Beautiful Strangers
by kt2785
Summary: Jack and Kate are married. They have a mostly happy marriage, but are beginning to drift apart. A handsome stranger moves in across the street, and Kate finds a new friend in this beautiful stranger. Skate and Jate. WIP. Please please R & R!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Kate and Jack are married, but what happens when Kate isn't exactly happy and a handsome stranger moves in next door.**

Kate was standing in the kitchen making dinner. She was never really the domestic type, but when she married Jack she no longer had to work. She would spend her days hanging around the house mostly. She would bake cakes for the community bake sales, or did volunteer work at the local churches or day care centers. She loved the kids and almost wanted one of her own, but Jack wasn't really interested in starting a family really. He told her that he was too busy to pay attention to a kid. The phone rang and she brushed her hands on her pants and answered.

"Hello?" she asked. She didn't have to guess who it was. Jack was really the only person who called her. She didn't really have many friends.

"Hey baby," he sighed. "I'm gonna be home in a little while. I just have to finish some things up here."

"Ok," she murmured. "See you later."

"I'm sorry baby," he whispered. "Don't be mad."

"I'm not," she answered. "I'll see you when you get home."

She sat down at the table and ate dinner by herself. Her only other means of companionship was a white Persian cat named Bianca. Bianca jumped up on the table, which if Jack was home would be a definite no-no, but Kate spooned some of the potatoes out for Bianca to eat. Kate always thought it was weird, but potatoes was Bianca's favorite food. Any type of potatoes would do, potato chips, French fries, and even baked potatoes. Bianca ate the potatoes quickly and then looked up at Kate, with a 'gimme some more' type look.

"Alright," Kate sighed. "I just gotta make sure I save some for Jack."

Bianca ate the second helping of potatoes and then jumped on to Kate's lap and curled up. Kate smiled down at the white fur ball. There was a knock on the door and Bianca ran into the other room. Kate was the only person that Bianca went near. She was terrified of anyone else, and especially men. Kate stood up and looked out the peep hole. There was a man standing there, holding the hand of a small child who didn't look older than 4. She opened the door and looked at him.

"Hello," Kate said, slightly confused.

"Hi there," the man smiled.

"Howdy ma'am, my name is Clementine, daddy can I go now?" the cute blonde child said practically in one breath.

"Not by yourself young lady," he said. "And mind your manners in front of the lady."

"Sorry," Clementine frowned and hid her face.

"Clem's a little shy, ain'tcha puddin'," he said looking down at the child.

"I'm sorry," Kate said, still confused and shaking her head slightly. "Who are you?"

"Daddy you gotta tell your name too," Clementine stated.

"You're right, I'm terribly sorry," he shook his head. "I'm Sawyer. Just moved in across the street. We just wanted to come over here y'know introduce ourselves."

"Nuh uh daddy," Clementine shook her head. "You said you saw a pretty lady eating dinner all alone, so we should take her for ice cream."

"Kids," Sawyer smirked and shrugged.

"What's she talking about?" Kate asked.

"Ok," he mumbled. "I saw you in the kitchen window eating dinner all alone. I was taking my daughter for ice cream and we decided that we'd invite a pretty lady. You wanna come get some ice cream with us?"

Kate thought for a minute and then smiled.

"Ok," she nodded. "I'll get my coat."

"We gonna drive there?" Sawyer asked.

"Nah," she responded and came back into the room. She shut the door and locked it. "There's an ice cream parlor right down the road…couple blocks from here. It's a nice night…why don't we walk?"

"I hate walking," Clementine whined.

"Clementine Elizabeth, stop that whining right now or we're not going for any ice cream," Sawyer said sternly.

"Fine," she whined once more. They began walking and Kate noticed that Sawyer kept looking over at her. She shook her head and let out a soft breath.

"So what's your story?" she asked. "Where's your wife?"

"Don't got one," Sawyer mumbled.

"Ok," she chuckled. "But then where's her mom?"

"Dead," Clementine answered.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kate whispered.

"She ain't really dead Freckles," Sawyer responded. "Just to us, right Clementine?"

"Yep," she said, beginning to skip.

"What are you talking about?" Kate asked.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "I just invited you for ice cream, what's with the third degree!"

"I-I'm sorry," she said softly.

"I just-we don't talk about her momma," he murmured.

"Got it," she nodded. "Sorry."

She twisted her engagement ring, and wedding ring, and suddenly Clementine grabbed her hand and looked at it.

"Ooh daddy she has a pretty ring!" Clementine exclaimed.

"You're married," Sawyer chuckled and shook his head.

"Yeah," Kate said, sort of suspiciously. "You weren't trying to pick me up were you?"

"No," he answered, a little too quickly. "No…I just-I guess I didn't notice it before. Is he home?"

"He won't be home till later," she replied. And before either of them could say another word her cell phone rang. Sawyer let out a soft chuckle and Kate reached into her pocket.

"Hey," she said.

"Where are you?" Jack asked.

"Jack I-are you home already?" she asked.

"I think I asked you a question," he replied.

"I went out for ice cream with the new neighbors," she answered.

"What new neighbors?" he asked.

"Look, Jack I really don't feel like fighting tonight. I'm having ice cream with the new neighbors, now answer my question."

"Yeah I came home and you were just gone…the dirty dishes are still on the table."

"I'll take care of them when I get home," she replied.

"No I can wash them," he stated. "It's not a big deal Kate, I just-you were gone when I got home…it just kinda freaked me out. I'm sorry I got mad. I just-"

"It's ok," she whispered. "I'll see you when I get home. I didn't expect you to be home so soon."

"I wanted to surprise you."

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Ok," he stated. "See you in a little while baby."

She flipped the phone closed and stopped walking.

"Sawyer?" Kate asked softly.

"You gotta get home to the husband?" he finished her thought.

"Rain check?" she questioned. "I mean don't take this the wrong way…he didn't even ask me to come home. I just-I hardly get to see him even when he is home. He's always so busy. I just-I should go home."

"Alright," he said. "Maybe we'll see you tomorrow. Clem and I are gonna go wandering around the town looking for things to do. You busy?"

"No actually," she smiled. "See you then."

"Clementine say bye to the nice-hey…we didn't even get your name," he smiled. "We just know that your last name is Shephard."

"I'm Kate," she answered.

"Kate," he repeated. "Clementine, say goodbye to Kate."

"Bye Kate…Daddy!" Clementine exclaimed. She whispered something into Sawyer's ear. Sawyer chuckled softly and stood back up.

"What's your favorite ice cream Kate?" Sawyer asked. "We'll bring you back something…and your husband too."

"Oh, no you don't have to-" she began.

"Hey," he interrupted. "We want to."

"Thanks," she smiled. "Strawberry for me…nothing for Jack…he's more of a brownie kinda guy."

"Ok," he nodded. "Strawberry it is. It's Clem's favorite too."

"Y'know," she shook her head and let out a breath. "Screw it…I'm coming with you."

"Ok," he chuckled.

They walked into the ice cream shop together. They were only there for 20 minutes while they ate their ice cream. And then they headed back to the houses. Kate heard thunder and looked up. Clementine stopped walking and looked at Sawyer with a frown.

"Daddy!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Shh!" he exclaimed. "Clementine. You can't scream like that in public. It's ok…come here. She's terrified of thunderstorms."

"I see that," Kate nodded.

He picked Clementine up and covered her with his coat. It started pouring down rain. Kate used her own coat to cover herself. She watched as Sawyer put his arms around Clementine tighter and protected her from the rain and thunder. Kate smiled to herself and both her and Sawyer started running. He ran up the steps to her house and they stopped on the porch.

"Thanks for the ice cream," she smiled.

"Daddy?" Clementine said shakily and frowning. "The light-ining is going to get us daddy."

"Clem…baby…I promise you, the lightning won't get you. I won't put you down till we're back at our house. Now for real say bye bye to Kate."

"Bye bye," she waved and pressed her face into Sawyer's chest. Kate smiled and Sawyer then did something Kate wasn't expecting him to do. He leaned forward and gave Kate a quick kiss on the cheek.

"See ya tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Sure."

Sawyer walked back to his house, and Kate went back inside her own. She sighed deeply and walked toward the kitchen. Jack wasn't in the kitchen, but she saw that the dishes had been done. She knew that Jack was in the office. She went toward the office and saw that he was concentrating hard on whatever he was doing.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Oh hey," he answered. "I thought you were out for ice cream."

"I'm back," she responded.

"Oh," he whispered and turned around in his chair. He gestured to his lap and she walked toward him and sat down. He ran his hand up and down her back slowly.

"So we got new neighbors?" he asked. "They just randomly asked you to go out for ice cream?"

"I dunno," she shrugged and chuckled. "He came over and he was taking his daughter for ice cream and invited me to come along. He didn't know I was married until his daughter saw my rings. I actually think he kinda had a crush on me."

"Kinda?" Jack chuckled. "Well how could he not think you were drop dead gorgeous."

She smile at him and kissed his lips. He let out a sharp exclamation and then backed away from her. He looked at her somewhat guiltily and ran his hand across her cheek.

"Sorry sweetie, I got a lot of work to do still," he sighed. "But as soon as I'm done, I'll come upstairs."

"Ok," she nodded.

Kate went back into the kitchen and the cat rubbed up against her legs. She picked the cat up and scratched her behind the ears. The cat meowed softly and nuzzled against Kate. She put Bianca down and walked up the steps. She took her shower and got into her pajamas and then bed.

She had been in bed for an hour before Jack came up to bed. He kissed her softly on the cheek and then laid down. She flipped over and moved toward him. She ran her hands over his face and kissed him on the lips. He kissed her back for a minute and then looked at the clock. She sighed to herself and chuckled softly.

"You have work in the morning," she said before he could.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "Kate things will get better I promise."

"When?" she asked.

"Soon," he replied. "Come 'ere."

She inched toward him and rested her head on his shoulder. She took a deep breath and he rested his hands on her back

"Love you baby," he whispered.

"I love you too," she answered. She snuggled against him and kissed his cheek again. She thought about how things were when they first got married. He worked a lot, but he always made time for her. They had only been married for almost a year. They had gotten married very quickly. Almost too quickly in Kate's opinion, but she didn't really care. She loved him so much, so it didn't matter to her that they got married after knowing each other for only 2 months.

"Jack," she whispered. "Jack."

She lifted her head and Jack began to snore. She sighed to herself. She wondered if Jack even remembered their anniversary. She rolled back over and curled herself under the covers. It took her forever to fall asleep. Jack was snoring worse than normal. She almost forgot about hanging out with Sawyer the next day. She figured it would give her something to do rather than just hanging around the house all day. She would have to show Sawyer all the local landmarks…bowling, restaurants, and of course the mall. She was sure that Sawyer wasn't much of the mall guy, but maybe he could take Clementine shopping. She thought about asking if he needed someone to take care of Clementine while he went to work. She thought of different questions she could ask him…like what really happened with Clementine's mom. Even though she knew that Sawyer obviously didn't want to talk about it, maybe she could get him to open up slightly.

Sawyer was attracted to her. He laid awake in his house and stared at the ceiling. The truth about Clementine's mom, was that he had conned her. He had gone to jail and when he got out Cassidy had found him again. She came over to his house one day so that Sawyer could meet Clementine, and ended up sneaking out the bathroom door, leaving a 5 month old Clementine in Sawyer's care. Sawyer was planning on conning Kate. He had it all figured out. They'd start out being friends, but soon enough she'd be crying on his shoulder, telling him how Jack is never home. He'd seduce her and it would work. She would fall head over heels in love with him, and then he'd take her for everything her husband was worth. But there was already a problem...he had been with gorgeous women before, but there was something different about this girl.

"Stop it Sawyer," he mumbled to himself. "She's just the same as any other pretty lady with a dumb rich husband."

**A/N: So? How is it? Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Kate woke up the next morning and Jack was already gone. She sighed softly to herself and Bianca was laying on top of her, trying to wake her up by using her paws. Kate mumbled, and got out of bed. She got dressed for the day, and waited for Sawyer to come over. She knew that he would probably get there soon.

There was a knock at the door, and Kate went to the door eagerly. She wasn't sure why she was so anxious to hang out with a total stranger, but part of her knew it was just because she was in desperate need of human contact. She opened the door and Sawyer was standing in front of her. He smiled, and she noticed that the little girl wasn't with him.

"Mornin' honey," he smiled.

"Hey," she half scoffed and smiled at him. "So…where's Clementine?"

"Home with the babysitter," he answered.

"Oh really?" she asked. "I'm on to you Tex."

"What do you mean?" he smirked.

"Come on," she scoffed. "You just happened to find a babysitter for this morning? Kinda short notice, seeing as how you just moved in yesterday."

"I'm a friendly guy," he shrugged. "Met the next door neighbors last night. They have a teenage daughter who is home schooled, and needs a couple extra bucks. Now…how about that tour of the city?"

He held out his arm and Kate rolled her eyes but linked her arm in his. They walked to the car and drove around the city all morning. Kate told him where to drive. They talked, but it was mostly small talk. Favorite foods, what they do for a living (Sawyer claiming to be a real estate agent), and everything else that didn't really matter. Kate continued to try and get him to open up and talk about Clementine's mom. She wanted to have some sort of connection to him. They stopped for lunch, and Sawyer offered to pay.

"So Kate," Sawyer began. "Your husband…do you love him?"

"What?" she asked with a slight scoff. "What do you mean…of course I love him."

"Sorry to just blurt it out like that Freckles," he sighed. "I just-he seems to be pretty busy. I mean too busy to come home for dinner with such a gorgeous woman? I wouldn't let anything keep me from eating dinner with you."

"You've never had my cooking," she smiled and took a sip of her water. "Look…with Jack…I've always known that his job is the most important thing to him. In fact the entire reason I met him was because of his work."

"What do you mean?" Sawyer asked.

Sawyer knew full well that Kate's mom had been sick, and that's how Kate met Jack. Diane had had cancer, which had spread to her spine. Jack was the doctor who was going to do the surgery on her back. Kate fell in love with him over the 2 months that he was her mom's doctor. They married soon after her mom left the hospital. They fell in love quickly. As Kate explained the story she had tears in her eyes. Sawyer also knew that about a month ago her mom's cancer came back, and this time there would be no fixing her. She passed away. Jack had comforted her, but not as much as she would have hoped.

"Does he-" Sawyer began. "I'm sorry it's really none of my business. There's just a certain sadness in your eyes Freckles. I think you should think about talking to Jack about how you feel about it all."

"He's busy," she shrugged. "I mean…he cares about me. I have no doubt in my mind that he loves me. I just-sometimes I wish that I could just have someone to talk to. He's always at work, and when he's not he's working in the office or sleeping. I don't even know if he knows that tomorrow is our anniversary. I just want someone to tell me everything's going to be alright."

Sawyer smiled weakly at her and moved his chair next to her. She backed away slightly, almost afraid that he might try and kiss her. Instead, he just rested one of his hands on hers.

"Everything's going to be alright," he whispered.

"Thanks," she said, smiling.

"And also if Jack forgets your anniversary Kate…then he doesn't deserve you," he told her. "You deserve better than that."

"I love him though," she shrugged. "I let him-I mean-he doesn't treat me bad. It's hard for him to treat me like anything when he's not here. I just-I want to know that he still loves me."

Sawyer looked at her somewhat with remorse and they ate the rest of lunch talking about happier topics. On the way home Kate and Sawyer stayed mostly quiet. When they pulled into Sawyer's driveway Kate started getting out of the car, but Sawyer took her by the hand.

"Clementine's momma," he sighed. "Kate you should know something about me…I don't-I haven't done very many things I'm proud of in my life. Cassidy was a woman who-she found out some things about my past...and had me arrested. I was in jail for credit card fraud. While I was in jail Cassidy brought me a picture…a sonogram. She told me I was going to have a daughter. I didn't really want anything to do with it…but when I got out of jail, Cassidy found me and she brought Clementine to meet me. Clem was only 5 months old, so she had no clue about what a daddy even was. Cassidy excused herself to go to the bathroom and she never came back. When I went to check on her…she had crawled out of the bathroom window. Just abandoned Clementine with me. Even after knowing who I was. I was a criminal…a con man."

"Sawyer," Kate whispered and touched his hand softly.

"Hey," he shook his head. "I don't need your pity. I don't need-things worked out. I've got Clementine…and I love her. I just sometimes wish that she had a momma."

"I know this probably doesn't mean much," Kate sighed. "But if you ever need someone to hang out with her…y'know a woman…I'd be happy to. Y'know…take her shopping…do the girly things with her."

"Hey…I got the girly stuff down," he said with a smile. "Barbies and hair clips. I can do one mean French braid."

"I'm surprised you even know that term," she chuckled.

"Hey…single dad with a little girl. I kinda have to know those terms," he answered.

"So why haven't you gotten married?" she asked. "I mean…nice guy like you…you're sweet and charming…I would think that women would be lined up to marry you."

"Not really the marrying kind Freckles," he whispered. "Like I said…con man. If I hadn't been such a jerk I probably coulda married Cassidy."

"Did you love her?" Kate asked.

"Not really," he mumbled. "The only girl I've ever loved is right inside. Actually I should probably go. She's waiting for me."

Without thinking Kate leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. She backed away, turned a dark shade of red and got out of the car. Before Sawyer could even move to stop her she was already running across the street and into her own house. He smiled and went into the house.

Kate put a pot of tea on the stove and thought about the 4 hours that she had just spent with Sawyer. Somehow she really almost liked him. She wanted to see him again, but at the same time, she knew it would be a bad idea. There was just something about him. He was definitely very charming. She could see how he could con anyone. She sat down in the living room with her cup of tea. She heard the front door open and looked up. Jack came through the door with a bouquet of flowers.

"Katie?!" he asked.

"Right here," she said standing up.

"Happy Anniversary baby," he said with a smile. He wrapped his arms around her and she let out a soft chuckle.

"Thank you," she stated. "They're beautiful…lemme go put them in water."

She took the flowers from him and walked into the kitchen. Jack followed her, and knew that there was something else wrong. She didn't look very happy. He stopped her from putting the flowers in water and looked at her.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she shrugged. "I'm fine."

"No you're not," he replied. "Baby, what happened? What's the matter?"

"Jack, when's our anniversary?" she asked.

"Tomorrow silly," he answered. "Look. Honey I'm sorry. I just-I have to leave tonight. I'm going for the weekend to help-there's a little girl in Ohio that needs my help. I have to try and save her Kate."

"Ok," she sighed.

"I'm sorry honey," he repeated.

"It's alright," she answered. The tears started forming in her eyes and she turned away so that Jack wouldn't see. He took her gently by the arm and pulled her toward him. He kissed her lips softly and she let out a soft sob.

"You know that I have to do my job," he said running his hand across her face.

"I know," she nodded. "But-Jack-I just feel like…we've been married for a year Jack. One year exactly and I feel like-we're drifting apart Jack. I hung out with Sawyer all morning, and it's the most I've talked to anyone in…well in a really long time. And we haven't made love…Jack we're still newlyweds. Remember when we first got married, you said that we were going to have sex every night for the first year."

"So we've missed a few," he shrugged. "Besides, I wasn't entirely serious. And I didn't really expect you to want it every night."

"Jack-" she sighed.

"Ok," he closed his eyes. "I know-I'm sorry…but it's why I came home early."

"You came home early to pack," she mumbled. She began to walk away from him and pulled her back again. He saw her frown and shook his head.

"Hey," he whispered. "I came home to be with you. I'm sorry Kate. I don't know what else to say…but do you want me to lose my job?"

"No," she said quickly. "Of course I don't want you to lose your job Jack. I just want you for once to put your wife above your job. And I highly doubt that you would lose your job if you told them that it was your anniversary and you had to go to Ohio the day after tomorrow instead of tonight."

"Yeah," he whispered. "But little Angelina Stewart might not live that long."

"Don't make me feel guilty just because I want to spend a little time with my husband on our anniversary," she scoffed. "What did you expect me to do? Say 'Oh that's great honey…go and spend our anniversary in a hospital with complete strangers! I'm so happy!' No. I'm not gonna be happy about this."

"You just said 2 minutes ago that it was ok," he argued. "Now all of the sudden you're pissed off at me? Kate I already said I was sorry. I don't know what else you want me to do."

"How about having a conversation with me," she offered. "I just spent the whole morning with a stranger…and I feel like he found out more about me in those 4 hours than you've found out about me in a full year."

"Did you sleep with him?" he asked.

"What?" she scoffed. "No Jack…we just talked. A relationship doesn't have to be based on sex…although you wouldn't know anything about having any type of relationship…sexual or otherwise."

"I came home so that we could-"

"Have a little midday romp?" she finished his sentence. "Then you're gonna hop out of the bed before we can cuddle for even 5 minutes and here's what you'll say 'Baby…I'm sorry. I gotta get ready to go to the airport. My cab is gonna be here in an hour and I want to shower before I leave.' Then I'll offer to join you and you'll say. 'Oh honey…you know I love you, and I would love for you to join me, but it's just gonna be quick…I need to get ready to go. I'm sorry.' See Jack…here's the thing. I love you and I know that you love me too…but our relationship has become so predictable over the past year…I don't know why I even bother."

"Kate," he whispered.

"Just leave me alone," she answered. She went up the stairs and into their bedroom. Jack heard the door slam and sighed to himself. He walked up the steps and knocked on the bedroom door before letting himself in. Kate was sitting on the bed with her head in her hands. She looked up and sighed softly.

"Jack," she shook her head. "I just wanna be alone."

"No," he replied, kneeling in front of her. "I don't think you do want to be alone. You wanted me to follow you."

He leaned toward her and kissed her lips. She kissed him back and sniffled. She leaned back and laid down and he laid down on top of her. He lifted her dress up over her legs and she sat up and pulled it the rest of the way off.

"I don't want you to leave," she whispered and wrapped her arms around him.

"I know," he answered.

"I miss you Jack," she said softly.

"Well I'm here now aren't I," he replied. "Let's just make the best of it while we can. I don't want to fight right now."

"I don't either," she shook her head.

She kissed him again and ran her hands up his back. She pulled frantically at his clothes. Neither of them stopped till they were both too out of breath to continue. Jack rolled off of Kate and she breathed in deeply.

"Maybe we need to abstain from sex more often," he breathed in deeply.

"Hmm, I don't think so," she chuckled and rolled toward him. "Have you thought any more about what we talked about?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"A baby," she whispered.

"Kate," he sighed. "I can't be-"

"A dad right now," she replied. "I know…but Sawyer is a single dad. He has absolutely no help. And once we had a kid wouldn't you think that-"

"No!" he exclaimed. "I don't want a kid right now Kate! Jeez! I told you I didn't want to fight tonight, and I meant it. Just-please…I don't want to leave angry."

"Fine," she sighed and got out of the bed. She pulled her dress back over her head and smoothed it out. "Have a nice trip."

"Kate," he whispered and walked toward her. "I'll be back on Monday. We can talk about it then?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "God forbid you miss your flight."

He would have stayed, but Kate was right. He had to get ready or he would miss his flight. The truth was she was really only trying to make him mad enough to make him stay, but the plan backfired. He left the house, giving her a small peck on the cheek, and they were obviously both still mad. Kate wiped her cheeks off and sighed softly. Jack hadn't been gone for even 10 minutes when the phone rang. She was certain that it was Jack calling to apologize once more.

"Jack I really-," she answered.

"Freckles?" Sawyer's voice said. "Are you ok? You sound like you've been crying."

"Sawyer," she sighed. "Yeah. I'm ok."

"I'm coming over."

"Sawyer it's ok," she argued. "I'm fine-"

Before she could finish her sentence she realized that the phone was dead. She chuckled softly to herself and shook her head. Sawyer knocked on the door before she could hang the phone up. She opened the door and he looked at her sadly.

"What happened?" he whispered.

"Sawyer," she shook her head. "I don't know-why do you even care? You don't even know me."

"Well yeah I do Freckles," he argued. "You grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. Your dad was a drunk, and your mom was the only person who ever cared about you…but she died about a month ago. Your favorite color is blue, and you wouldn't wear pink if someone paid you."

She let out a soft chuckle and shook her head.

"Anyway," he sighed. "I can tell that you've been crying. What happened?"

"Y'know how tomorrow is my anniversary?" she asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Lemme guess, Doctor McJackass forgot."

"Worse," she sighed. "He remembered, but he's going away for the weekend."

"Jerk off," he whispered. "Hey…come over."

"What?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Come over," he repeated. "I'm making mac and cheese, Clem's favorite. Come over and we'll forget about your dumbass husband."

She smiled weakly and nodded. He kissed her softly on the nose and looked at her with a smile. She smiled back and then chuckled softly and shook her head.

"I-" he sighed. "God…I'm sorry. I just-"

"It's ok," she shook her head. "I'm gonna go change.

"Why?" he asked. "You look real nice Freckles."

"Well…what time do you want me over?" she asked.

"Now?" he whispered.

"I'll be over in an hour," she answered. He nodded and squeezed her hand before leaving the house. Kate bent her head back and sighed deeply. She knew that she was married and she also still loved Jack, but there was just something about Sawyer…he made her feel like her whole world just faded away. He almost made her forget that she was married, and that was definitely not a good thing. She decided to change her clothes anyway. She wanted to put on a pair of jeans.

An hour later she went over to the Ford's house. There was a note on the front door telling her to let herself in. She went inside and looked around the house. In the front room it was the TV room. There was a Barbie dream house in the corner. She smiled to herself. She never had the Barbie dream house as a kid. She was always too busy climbing trees and doing things with the boys. But she had always wanted a daughter that she could do girly things with since she never had it as a kid. She heard voices coming from the kitchen and followed the sounds.

Sawyer and Clementine were making dinner together. He was telling her how much milk to put in the pot. Clementine chuckled as Sawyer helped her pour the milk and his stubbly cheek rubbed against hers.

"Daddy you're too tickly!" she exclaimed and backed away from him.

"Oh yeah?" he asked. "I'll show you tickly."

"No daddy!" she squealed and jumped off the stool she was standing on. Sawyer chased Clementine around the kitchen and Kate smiled widely watching the father/daughter interaction. This was exactly what she wanted for herself and Jack. She wanted to watch Jack playing with a child. He noticed Kate watching them and stopped chasing Clementine, instead just grabbed her around the middle and hugged her. He whispered something into Clementine's ear and Clementine ran toward Kate.

"Hi missy Kate," Clementine said. "Sit here."

Clementine guided Kate into the kitchen and sat her down at the kitchen table.

"Clem," Sawyer whispered and gestured his head toward the dinning room.

"Daddy that's only for special days."

"It's for company," he told her. "And we have company."

"No daddy," she shook her head.

"Yeah really," Kate chuckled. "I'm not company. For once let's just-Sawyer-"

Sawyer, Kate, and Clementine ate dinner together. Kate liked actually having the company for once. They ate dinner, then desert. At 9:00 Sawyer took Clementine upstairs to go to bed. He told Kate to stay so she sat down on the couch. Sawyer was only gone for 10 minutes and he came back down the stairs.

They watched some TV for a while. Kate kept trying to make excuses to leave, but Sawyer somehow each time got her to stay. She kept thinking about what Jack could be doing right now. She knew he was probably in Ohio by now. In fact probably at the hospital talking to the parents. It was later there…there was a 3 hour time difference. It was nearly midnight before Kate stood up to leave. She started toward the door and Sawyer and Kate both heard blood curdling screaming coming from upstairs. Sawyer quickly ran up the stairs. Kate hesitated before going upstairs, and then stopped. She decided to wait till Sawyer came back before leaving…but she decided not to go upstairs. She was sure that Clementine was ok.

"Hey Freckles," he said quietly. "You wanna come up and say goodnight?"

"She wants me to say goodnight to her?" she asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. She looked at Sawyer and shook her head.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I mean…she seems outgoing, but I don't even know her…why would she want me to say goodnight?"

"Come on Freckles," he smirked. "You're not gonna deny a 4 year old a goodnight hug are ya?"

She glared at him and shook her head. She took the hand he was offering and they walked up the stairs together. Sawyer stood in the doorway and Kate tiptoed into the bedroom. Clementine was laying down with her eyes closed and her thumb in her mouth. She looked back at Sawyer and shook her head.

"She's fast asleep Sawyer," Kate whispered.

"Well then she must have fallen asleep while I came to get you," he answered.

"In 2 minutes?" she asked.

"Yeah," he smiled. He ran his hand down her arm and looked at her the way Jack used to look at her. She shook her head and started walking away from him.

"Hold on," he whispered. He pulled her toward him and kissed her lips gently. He didn't even try to stick his tongue in her mouth. She kissed him back and opened her mouth. This time feeling her welcoming the kiss he gently opened his mouth too, giving her plenty of time to stop the kiss if she wanted to, but instead she allowed it. As soon as their tongues touched Kate had a rush of emotions…pleasure, and wanting more, but at the same time feeling the deepest sense of guilt. She quickly backed away and ran down the stairs.

"Kate!" he exclaimed and stopped her half way down the stairs.

"Sawyer," she whispered. "Don't do this. I'm married I have to-I have to go."

"You're married Kate," he said holding on to her arm. "But you're not happy. If you were…you never would have come over tonight. It is after all your anniversary tomorrow."

"No," she shook her head. "It isn't like that. You invited me for dinner Sawyer. I thought that's all this was. Just stupid dinner."

"Yeah," he whispered. "If you say so. You know damn well what this was really about. You've known since we were in the car today…when you kissed my cheek."

"I didn't-Sawyer," she sighed. "This is the first time in a really long time that I have actually had someone to talk to. It's the only reason I came for dinner-"

"Don't you find that the least bit odd? You don't have conversations with your own husband?" he asked. "I mean I get it…he's a doctor, and he's busy. But I honestly don't care how busy I am…I would always make time for my girl…especially one that I know could slip right through my fingers…someone as gorgeous as you. He shouldn't expect to keep you all to himself. He should know that other men will find you attractive, and _will_ try to take you away from him."

"I gotta go," she repeated.

"Y'know Freckles, you keep saying that," he shook his head. "But something tells me…if you were gonna go…you'd be gone already."

"You're holding on to my arm," she whispered.

"You can get away any time you want Freckles," he said leaning closer to her. "Forget about him…forget about him. He obviously is forgetting about you."

"Yeah," she nodded. "You're right."

He leaned toward her to kiss her and she turned her head.

"But I'm still married Sawyer," she whispered. "I'll see you around. Maybe tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," he answered and walked back up the stairs.

"You gonna lock your front door?" she asked continuing down the stairs.

"Nah," he shrugged. "I'm gonna leave it opened…in case you need some comfort later tonight."

"Sawyer," she sighed with a warning in her voice.

She walked back to her house and thought about everything that had happened the entire day. Starting with the drive around town. He had been so charming and sweet to her all day. When he brought her home and opened up to her she had actually felt something. She felt like she was special. She didn't know if Sawyer had ever told anyone else about what happened with Cassidy, but she felt somehow that she was the only one who actually knew that about him. And then of course there was what happened tonight. The dinner was simple boxed macaroni, but watching Sawyer be such a good dad was definitely a turn on. He had been completely right that Jack had forgotten about her and their anniversary. Even though Jack didn't technically forget their anniversary, he did put it on the backburner. She crawled into bed and as she was dozing off the phone rang. She answered the phone, expecting that it might be Sawyer.

"Hello," she said softly.

"Just wanted to make sure you got home ok," he stated.

"I'm fine," she answered. "What can I do to make you leave me alone?"

"Do you really want me to leave you alone, Freckles?" he asked.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Because the more time I spend with you…the more I think-Sawyer this is a really bad idea. I'm married-"

"Yeah, you keep saying that too Darlin'," he began. "But something tells me that that's not the reason-"

"I don't want to be a cheater ok?" she sighed. "And-tonight Sawyer…I almost didn't say no to you. I feel like if we spend much more time together…I'll cheat on him and my marriage will be over."

"Would that be such a bad thing?" he asked.

"Goodnight Sawyer," she replied and hung up the phone. The phone rang again. "I said goodnight."

"You asked me somethin' a minute ago Kate," he began. "What will make me leave you alone?…tell me that we'll hang out tomorrow. Just tell me that you'll be free tomorrow…we'll hang out and-"

"Ok," she interrupted. "Yes. I'll hang out with you tomorrow."

"Ok," he answered. She hung up the phone and pressed her face against her pillow. It smelled like Jack, and she moaned softly. The phone rang for the third time and she grumbled loudly.

"Sawyer," she answered. "Seriously just go to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Kate?" Jack asked.

"Jack," she stated. "Hey."

"Sawyer?" he questioned. "Why would Sawyer be calling there? You expecting a call from him?"

"No," she answered.

"What is going on?" he asked.

"Jack," she sighed.

"No," he interrupted. "I'm not there…but I have a right to know what the hell is happening."

"Nothing," she replied. "Look…tonight I went over there for dinner…that's all. We hung out. Nothing happened…his 4 year old daughter was there all night. I just-he called a little while ago to see if we could hang out tomorrow, and I thought maybe it was him again. Did you just get back to the hotel?"

"Don't change the subject," he scoffed.

"I'm not," she said, slightly whimpering. "I promise…I just-"

"You had sex with him didn't you?" he asked. "You were pissed at me for leaving so you cheated on me!"

"No," she argued. "I didn't-"

"How could you Kate?" he asked.

"Jack-" she started.

"No!" he yelled. "I thought I could trust you! But you're just a slut!"

"Jack!" she exclaimed. "Jack! I'm sorry…I didn't-Oh God. Jack. I-ok…ok I kissed him…well he kissed me and I kissed him back. But I felt horrible so I went home…but I was also mad at you Jack. I just want to get us back. I just-I don't want you to hate me. Just please...come home."

"I can't," he mumbled. "I have to work. I'll be home Monday to get my things."

"Jack!" she exclaimed. She heard the phone click and sighed to herself. She hung the phone up, and then picked it back up and dialed Sawyer.

"Hello?" he mumbled.

"Were you already sleeping?" she asked, slightly shocked.

"Already sleepin' and dreamin' of you sweetheart," he answered. "What's up?"

"Sawyer I can't see you," she blurted out.

"You mean tomorrow?" he asked.

"No Sawyer," she answered. "I mean ever. I can't cheat on my husband."

"It's not cheating when you just need a friend in your life," he responded. "Y'know I'm going to respect your wishes for now Freckles…but just wait a few days…I'll be here Kate. I'll be waiting…you know where to find me."

Kate closed her eyes and thought about Jack. She couldn't cheat on him. She had to find a way to get him to stay. She didn't want Jack to leave her.

"He's your husband Katherine," she whispered. "You love him."

**A/N: Ok…so I got to writing and I just couldn't stop! I hope you all enjoyed the longish chapter. Anyway Please please please please review!! **


	3. Chapter 3

Kate woke up the next day and moaned softly. She remembered her fight with Jack, and hoped that he could forgive her. She hadn't really done anything wrong. It was just a stupid kiss. And it was a kiss that meant nothing. She hadn't even meant for it to happen. She got ready for the day. When she was in the shower she had heard the phone rang. She knew that it was either Jack or Sawyer…she hoped that it was Jack rather than Sawyer, but whoever it was didn't bother leaving a message.

She was in the bedroom, making the bed, when she heard screaming and crying coming from outside. She looked out the window and saw that Clementine was laying on the sidewalk. Her bike was tipped over. The bike had training wheels on it, but Clementine somehow tipped it over and was crying on the sidewalk. She looked out the window, and didn't see any sign of Sawyer. She ran down the steps and out of the house. She crossed the street to Sawyer's house and helped Clementine stand up.

"Where's your daddy, Clementine?" Kate asked.

"Missy Kate," she sobbed and flung her arms around her.

"Clem!" Sawyer exclaimed and ran down the steps wearing just his boxers. Kate turned a light shade of pink, and stood up, still holding Clementine and comforting her softly.

"I heard her crying," she said quietly.

"Clementine Elizabeth Ford, I told you to never come out here without me."

"You took too long daddy," Clementine sobbed and pressed her face against Kate's neck. "My leg hurts! I think it's broke!"

"Here," Kate said quietly, trying to hand Clementine to Sawyer.

"No!" Clementine exclaimed. "Kate you fix me!"

Kate sighed softly and Sawyer shook his head.

"Clementine leave Kate alone," Sawyer said, taking her from Kate. "She don't want to be bothered."

"Kate!" Clementine sobbed.

"I can-" Kate began. "I have some bandages at my house."

"We're still not totally unpacked," Sawyer mumbled.

"Come on," Kate whispered. She walked across the street with Sawyer following her closely. When they got back to Kate's house she helped Sawyer bandage Clementine's knee. It wasn't a bad scrape, but Clementine insisted that she needed 3 band-aids. When they were done Sawyer took Clementine by the hand and guided her out of the house.

"Daddy I want to stay and play with the kitty!" Clementine exclaimed. Surprisingly Bianca was purring and letting Clementine pet her. Kate had never seen Bianca let anyone pet her like that…especially a 4 year old who wasn't being very gentle.

"No Clem," Sawyer shook his head. "Kate wants to be left alone. So we're gonna leave her alone."

"Kate's mean," Clementine whined.

"I know," Sawyer whispered. "But we gotta respect Kate's wishes. She told me yesterday that she never wanted-"

"Sawyer stop it," Kate scoffed. "This is not my fault. I can't-look I'm sorry alright? I just-do you think we can just talk alone?"

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Clementine stay here and play with the kitty."

He stood up and he and Kate left the room. Kate stood in front of him and closed her eyes. She sighed deeply and Sawyer took a step toward her.

"Sawyer," she whispered.

"Ok," he murmured. "I'm sorry. I just-I don't see how we spent most of the day together yesterday and you feel nothing."

"Sawyer," she started. "That is the whole problem. I did. I felt-God I don't know what I felt. I just-I want to kiss you. I want you to take me in those arms and-the way you make me feel. I know it's not love just yet, but definitely infatuation. I want to-I want to Sawyer, but I can't. I'm so attracted to you. You're charming, and you're amazing with your daughter. I want you to make me forget all about Jack…but that's the problem. Even if I did let you make me forget about Jack…I'm still married to him. And-look last night he told me that he was going to come home and get his stuff. He's leaving me."

"So what?" he said leaning toward her. He didn't try to kiss her, but he was inches from her face. "Screw him Kate. I've been lonely lately. Y'know how you said that you were surprised that I haven't been married…well not many women want to come into a relationship when they know I have a daughter. I have been really lonely…and I know you have to. You don't have sex with your own husband. So what are we supposed to do? Just admire each other from afar. Jack won't be there for you Kate…and you know it."

"I think you should leave," she whispered.

"Really?" he asked. "Is that really really what you want Kate? Because if it is…I'll leave-but if there's even the slightest chance…the slightest chance that you feel about me the way I feel about you-"

"You don't even know me!" she exclaimed right before their lips touched. "Sawyer I don't see you can feel anything for me when we've known each other a day."

"Ain't you ever heard of love at first sight…love at first touch," he whispered touching her hand softly. He leaned in again and this time Kate didn't push him away. Their lips touched and a spark ignited. She wrapped her arms around his neck and their lips and tongues fought with each other. Kate sighed softly into his mouth. He let her have complete control over the kiss. She stopped first and gasped.

"Ok," she shook her head. "Um…I gotta-I gotta ask you to leave Sawyer. Ok? I just-my husband. It's our anniversary today…I can't be-I have to make him stay."

She backed away from him and he smirked at her. He walked back into the living room where Clementine was still playing with the cat. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Daddy can I have a kitty?!" she asked.

"Can you clean up after it?" he asked. "You know…pick up all the kitty poop?"

"Ew!" Clementine exclaimed. "No!"

"Well then you can't have a kitty," he answered, smiling at Kate. "Come on baby…we're gonna leave Kate alone now."

"Kate are you mad at me?" Clementine asked.

"No," Kate gasped kneeling down. "I'm not mad at you or your daddy. I'm actually kind of mad at myself. I can still hang out sometimes maybe…but from now on my husband is gonna come too."

"Wonderful," Sawyer mumbled. "Let's go hon."

**2 Days Later**

Kate knew that Jack would be back home around dinner time. She was making dinner for Jack and waiting for him to come home. She decided to wear Jack's favorite dress. When she heard the front door open, she ran into the hallway. Jack put his briefcase down and scoffed slightly at the sight of Kate. He didn't say anything but instead moved past her and started up the stairs.

"Jack!" she exclaimed.

"I don't want to hear it Kate," he mumbled. "While I was saving a little girl's life you were screwing someone else. Fine. We're done."

"Jack!" she yelled again following him up the stairs. "Jack wait!"

When she got to the bedroom, she discovered that Jack was waiting. He turned toward her and sighed softly.

"I slept with Ms. Stewart," he mumbled.

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"Last night," he sighed. "I was upset that you had cheated on me…Angelina's mom is a single mother. She was pretty upset about her daughter…needed some comfort. So we comforted each other."

"Jack-" she whispered and tears formed in her eyes. "Jack nothing happened between me and Sawyer. I kissed him…and that's it. I never would have-I just-when you came home tonight I was supposed to apologize at your feet. You were supposed to forgive me. How can I fix this Jack?"

"By telling me you're devastated I cheated on you," he answered, stepping toward her.

"I am," she nodded. "I never-I didn't cheat on you Jack. And the reason I'm crying is because-because I never thought you'd stoop to my level. How could yo-I mean I know you thought I cheated on you so you just-but yeah…I'm devastated Jack."

"Good," he replied, pulling her toward him and kissing her passionately. "I didn't Kate. I didn't cheat on you."

"What?" she asked.

"I wanted to see your reaction," he whispered. "I need to know that you still love me Kate. We have to just fix this. We have to fix us."

"I love you Jack," she answered. "Of course I love you. I just-I miss you. You're always so busy. And I know that it's your job. I knew that about you when I first met you. I mean-you spent so much time at the hospital with me and my mom…I knew that you were basically married to your job. That's why I fell in love with you. But now that we're married…I just wish that I was part of your priorities."

"You are," he answered. "You are my priority Kate."

"No I'm not," she shook her head. "Jack…tell me something. Say that right now…right here, right now…we make love. And we're laying in each other's arms. And your pager goes off? What are you going to do? Will you tell the hospital to go to hell? Or will you leave me, cold and alone in bed?"

"That's not fair Kate," he mumbled. "You know how much I love you…but if I'm on call…I can't just let a patient die."

"Well can you let our marriage die?" she whispered.

"Kate," he shook his head. "I'm not going to let anything happen to us."

Over the next month things didn't get much better for Kate. She had a few more run-ins with Sawyer. Mostly because of Clementine. A part of Kate even thought that he maybe was using Clementine just so that he could see her, but then she pushed those thoughts from her mind. What sick person would use his daughter just to get closer to a woman. But then she remembered that Sawyer had been a conman so it was very possible that he was using Clementine, just so that he could see Kate. Jack worked just as much as always. He was hardly ever home, which upset Kate, but surprisingly she wasn't missing him as much as she had been…and she also hadn't been hanging out with Sawyer, so she didn't know why she didn't miss Jack. In fact she almost missed the conversations with Sawyer, even though there hadn't been many.

Jack had a new patient. He was spending all his time and energy on her. She was a woman around Kate's age who had gotten into a horrible car accident. Her husband left her alone when he found out that she would probably never walk again. Jack had promised to fix her, but he had to break that promise because she was still paralyzed. Jack felt horribly guilty and spent nearly all his time at the hospital.

Kate was sleeping soundly when Jack came home. He had spent the night at the hospital by Sarah's bedside. She kissed him, and he kissed her back. He was starting to fall in love with her. It wasn't that he was falling out of love with Kate, because he still loved Kate, very much, but there was something about Sarah. He laid down in bed next to Kate and put his hand against her back.

"Kate," he whispered.

"Hmm," she mumbled. He shook her again and she opened her eyes. "What?"

She woke up somewhat violently and hit Jack in the face with her hand accidentally.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "What's up? Is everything ok? Is Sarah alright?"

"She's great," he murmured. "Kate-we made out."

"What?" she said, waking up slightly more.

"I'm sorry Kate," he sighed. "Look I know I said that I'd fix everything, but I couldn't fix her. And she was crying-I kissed her. We kissed."

"So are you leaving me?" she asked shaking her head.

"I don't want to lose us Kate," he whispered and leaned toward her to kiss her. She turned her head and turned over to put her back to him. He put his arm around her and kissed the back of her neck.

"Kate I don't want to lose you," he whispered. "I love you so much Kate. I'm sorry that I kissed her."

"Jack, are you really sorry?" she asked. "Or are you just sorry because you didn't want to hurt me? Because if you want her…then you owe it to yourself-"

"Do you want to break up?" he questioned. "So that you can just go to him and not feel guilty?"

"No," she sniffled. "I haven't been-I've been avoiding him Jack. I just-I don't want to stay in this marriage if you don't love me anymore."

"Believe me Kate," he whispered. "I still love you."

**2 Months Later**

Jack and Kate continued to drift apart, although they stayed married. Kate decided that there was no harm in hanging out with Sawyer and Clementine as long as she could control herself. Sawyer never pushed her to kiss him, but that was only making her want him more.

Jack was away on business yet again. He would be gone for the weekend. Sawyer invited her for dinner, so she accepted, not having to worry about Jack wondering where she was. When she arrived at his front door she expected Clementine to answer the door, since she always answered the door. Instead Sawyer came to the door, wearing a nice shirt, and a pair of jeans that didn't have any rips in them. She chuckled softly and shook her head.

"You look nice," she said softly.

"Not so bad yourself Freckles," he answered taking her by the hand and lifting it slowly to his mouth.

"So where's Clementine?" she asked. "Sawyer, you know damn well the only reason why I agree to these dinners is because Clementine is here too."

"Clementine is upstairs with the flu. Her symptoms just started about an hour ago, and I thought it was silly to let good food go to waste. And you also agree to these dinners Kate because Jack is more focused on his patient…what was her name…oh yeah Sarah, than you."

"Fine," she sighed and followed him into the dining room. She rolled her eyes when she saw that there was a candle lit dinner set up, complete with a bouquet of red roses sitting on the table.

"Sawyer," she shook her head. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because," he began. "I know how I feel about you…and I'm pretty sure the feelings are mutual. I just want to show you that I can be the romantic type. I can be anything you want or need Freckles…just give me the chance."

"Y'know if you would have tried all this before I got married," she began. "It probably would have worked like a charm…but my mind keeps on wandering back to those vows I took with Jack."

"Yeah, but Jack isn't upholding those vows Kate!" he practically yelled. "To have and to hold…well it seems to me Freckles, that the only one he's having and holding is Sarah."

She closed her eyes and shook her head, but Sawyer noticed something…she wasn't leaving or even attempting to go toward the door. He stepped toward her and took her hands in his. He could feel her hands shaking in his own. He leaned toward her ear and whispered.

"Shh," he began. "No need to be scared of me Kate. I ain't gonna hurt you."

"I know," she whispered back. He brushed his cheek against hers and they stood there in the hallway, both hesitating, but neither of them wanting to stop.

"I'm falling head over heals Freckles," he said into her ear. "So I'll wait. I'll wait as long as you want me to. And if it would be better for you…maybe I'll just leave."

She backed away from him and looked at him seriously.

"Really?" she asked.

"If it's what you really want Kate," he answered. "I'll leave and you never have to hear from me again…but Freckles, just so you know…even if I leave here…I don't think that your relationship with Jack is going to change."

"I know it won't," she whispered. "That's why I can't ever ask you to leave."

She leaned toward him and pressed her lips to his. He ran his hands up her back and kissed her. She sighed softly and backed away.

"Dinner's probably getting cold," she said softly.

"Right," he murmured. They backed away from each other and walked into the dining room. Sawyer brought in the dinner and they ate in almost complete silence. Kate kept noticing Sawyer looking at her. At first it reminded her of the way Jack used to look at her, but then she realized, that Sawyer had a deep passion in his eyes. She wasn't sure if it was because he was just trying to seduce her using only his gaze, or if he really felt love behind his eyes.

Sawyer had the same predicament. He was still planning on taking all of Jack's money…but at the same time, he was beginning to actually love the woman sitting next to him. He didn't want to hurt her for anything in the world. He wanted to take care of her. But what was more, he wanted her to want him to take care of her. She had security with Jack sure, but he knew that what they had wasn't really love. They hadn't even been in love when they got married. It was puppy love…just a crush…and of course the fact that Kate was grateful that Jack had saved her mother. He was the one who was there every day. He was the one who listened to all Kate's problems. And he had actually opened up to her. He hadn't ever told anyone about what really happened with Cassidy…but there was something about Kate. He couldn't lie to her.

After dinner Kate helped Sawyer do the dishes. Kate noticed a plate in the cupboard that didn't match everything else. She lifted some of the other plates, to get it out from underneath everything else, and looked at it. JLF, were the initials on the plate. She ran her fingers over the plate. It was obvious that a child made the plate. There were two small green handprints on the plate. She smiled weakly and Sawyer snatched the plate from her.

"What are you doing?" he asked. She gasped slightly at Sawyer's actions and pressed her lips together.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"No I am," he sighed. "I just-it's a damn plate that I made when I was a kid."

"If you don't want people to see it you should keep it packed away," she said, still shaking slightly from being startled.

The plan was still working as planned…she'd find the plate, and he would tell her his whole sob story of when he was a kid. Then she'd stay and sleep with him, and then he'd ruin her life. But he was hesitating he didn't want to ruin her life…only her marriage so that he could have her to himself. They could raise Clementine together. He wasn't using Clementine to get closer to Kate. He would never do that. He loved Clementine and wouldn't purposely use her just so that he could see Kate…but now…he wanted Kate to be around…for himself and to be a mom for Clementine.

"Kate," he whispered.

"I'm gonna go home," she answered walking toward the door.

"Before you go," he sighed. "There's stuff about my past…stuff-"

"The conman stuff?" she asked.

"No," he sighed. "Stuff before all that. My childhood. Wasn't really a good one. Lemme just tell you this. My name isn't Sawyer. It's James. James Lucas Ford. I go by Sawyer for-well I'll just save that story for another day."

"Ok," she whispered. "Would you rather be called James or Sawyer?"

"I would walk you home Freckles," Sawyer began, obviously changing the subject. "But part of me is kinda hoping I won't have to."

"I'll see you tomorrow," she whispered and fumbled at the door knob.

"I love you Kate," he said quietly. She turned back toward him and looked at him with a frown. She shook her head and let out a soft scoff.

"Sawyer I-" she began.

"Shut up," he interrupted. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-all I know is that you need to leave before we both do something we might regret."

"James," she whispered and lifted herself up on her toes and kissed his lips softly. He pushed his tongue into her mouth and kissed her deeply and sensually. He could feel Kate tense up slightly and stopped kissing, but kept his mouth on top of hers.

"Do you want me to stop?" he asked into her mouth. She answered by kissing him again and running her hands over his arms.

"This is a bad idea," she whispered. "What about Clementine?"

"You think you can keep quiet Freckles?" he asked.

"I dunno," she replied, pulling away from him.

"I think we're both thinking too much," he replied, pulling her back and forcing her to look at him. "Tell me what you want right now Kate…don't think."

"I want you," she answered quickly. "I want to feel loved again."

"Ok," he whispered and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her like she's never been kissed before and walked with her into the living room.

"Bedroom," she whispered. "The neighbors can see us here."

He picked her up and quickly went up the stairs. He tossed her onto the bed and threw all the pillows and blankets to the floor. She chuckled slightly as he moved back up her body and kissed her again. He unbuttoned her pants with one hand and then stopped.

"I'm stopping," he told her. "I don't want to make you do anything."

"No body can make me do anything," she shook her head and started unbuttoning his shirt. He pulled her pants down and discovered that she wasn't wearing underwear.

"Freckles," he whispered. "You naughty little thing."

"Shut up," she scoffed, and pulled him on top of her.

* * *

She was laying in his arms and smiled slowly. He felt her smiling and ran his hand down her back. He trailed kisses on her shoulder down her chest and then back up to her lips.

"Wow," she whispered.

"That a good wow?" he asked.

"What do you think?" she chuckled.

The next day Kate spent helping Sawyer take care of Clementine. She kept catching Sawyer giving her looks. She smiled to herself. Even though she knew that she had betrayed Jack, it was the first time in a really long time that she actually felt happy. She felt like Sawyer could make her happy.

"Kate," Sawyer whispered into her ear. "Tonight…you, me, and your house."

"Sawyer-I can't-what about Clementine?" she asked.

"Lottie is coming over!" Clementine exclaimed.

"Lottie?" Kate asked.

"Charlotte," Sawyer answered. "The babysitter. She goes by Lottie."

"Oh," Kate smirked. "Did you plan all this out? You knew I was going to stay?"

"How the hell would I know that?" he asked. "One can only hope Freckles. But I called Lottie this morning to see if she could baby sit…she said 'no problem'. But she baby sits here at the house…so we can go out. That's why I say…you, me, and your house."

"Jack comes home tonight," she whispered.

"What time?" he asked.

"His plane lands at 10:00."

"P.M.?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Ok then," he smirked. "I'll just leave at 10:00 then. That will give us plenty of time to-"

"Don't," she shook her head. "Sawyer I don't know if I can do this."

"Sure you can Freckles," he whispered.

That night Kate and Sawyer were sitting on her couch watching a movie. Kate noticed that Sawyer kept coming closer and closer to her. Before she knew it they were making out on the couch, sitting up. He reached his hand to the waist band of her jeans and she shook her head.

"Sawyer wait," she whispered. He took his hand off of her but still had his arm around her. He nodded and smiled at her. He took his arm off of her too and then went back to watching the movie.

"It's ok," he said, seeing her looking slightly remorseful out of the corner of his eye. "Everything I need is just right here…I don't need sex with you Kate. We can just watch the movie."

"You are so full of it," she chuckled and moved over him. She kissed his lips and straddled his legs. He placed his hands on her back and kissed her back. The way he kissed her and touched her, and loved her, Kate knew that she wouldn't ever find another man like Sawyer. They made soft, slow love on the couch. Kate pushed all thoughts of Jack from her mind as she watched Sawyer above her. She closed her eyes, only to open them again when she heard him moaning 'Freckles' over and over again.

_She heard the door open, and Jack walked over to the couch. He looked crushed, but then just angry, and he pulled Sawyer away from Kate and punched him repeatedly. _

Kate came back to reality and gasped. She pushed Sawyer off of her, before either of them were fully satisfied.

"Freckles," he whispered. "What's wrong?"

"Jack," she shook her head. "What if he comes home early?"

"He won't," he responded, running his hand gently over her face. "We already checked his flight…it's supposed to land at LAX at 10:30. It's only 8:00 Sweetheart."

"I know," she nodded. "And believe me…I want this. I do. I-last night was one of the most exhilarating nights of my entire life, and believe me I want that feeling again…I just-"

"Are you still worried that the neighbors might see," he whispered. "Come on darlin'."

He picked her up, piled her and his clothes on top of her and ran up the stairs, with her. She squealed loudly and he put her down outside of the bathroom.

"You stopped a little short there Ford," she whispered.

"I got an idea," he replied. He kissed her deeply and pushed her into the bathroom. She chuckled softly and shook her head.

"This is the guest bathroom," she told him.

"Well good thing I'm just a guest staying here Freckles," he said. The shower was a walk in shower. He walked in and shut the glass door behind him. Then he flung his boxers over the door and Kate caught them and chuckled. "Join me…or don't. I don't really care."

She heard him turn the water on and then shook her head. She stood outside the shower and crossed her arms over her chest. She still had her shirt on, but nothing else. She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed softly to herself. She knew that the entire reason for coming into the bathroom was for her to join him, but she still wasn't sure about all of it. She knew that she loved being with Sawyer, and it was true that the previous night was the best sex she had had in a long time, if ever. She was almost scared to see him completely naked, because even though she had sex with him last night, and just had sex with him again on the couch, she hadn't actually gotten a good look at him.

"Freckles," he said. She turned around and he had a hand outside the shower. She took it and he pulled her into the shower, getting her shirt completely soaked.

"What are you doing?" she chuckled. She glanced down a couple times, but mostly tried keeping her eyes level with his.

"S'alright Freckles," he smirked. "You can look all you want."

She looked once more and then noticed that he was staring at her body. Her wet t-shirt was clinging to her breasts. He smirked again and leaned toward her ear.

"Hmm, now this is my idea of a proper wet t-shirt contest Freckles…and you'd definitely win first prize," he said softly. He pulled her shirt up over her head and kissed her lips. They started out in the shower, but weren't there for very long before Sawyer carried her to the bedroom. They left their clothes forgotten on the bathroom floor.

Sawyer put her gently on the bed, and they both scooted up to the top of the bed. He ran his hands down her body and kissed her softly and slowly. They spent the night in bed together. Kate was laying in his arms. Her hair was still wet from the shower. Sawyer had his hand running through it and bent down to kiss her on the lips.

"I gotta tell you somethin' Freckles," he whispered.

"Uh-oh," she said with a smile, kissing him once more, and snuggling against him.

"I'm not a good person Kate," he sighed.

"What are you talking about?" she mumbled, obviously not getting what he was going to stay.

"How much money does Jack have in the bank?" he asked.

"What?" she asked. "Oh I dunno exactly, somewhere around 200,000."

"Not even close," he stated.

"What are you saying?" she questioned.

"I was just supposed to meet you, take your husband's 375,000 bucks and be on my way," he started.

"What?" she interrupted. "You're gonna-I was just a con? That's all I was? Get the hell out-"

"No!" he exclaimed. "Kate…listen to me…I was supposed to…but I can't-something happened to me Kate. I fell in love with you."

"I don't believe you," she shook her head. "How can you be saying this? I just slept with you. I basically ruined my marriage and for what? So you can just ruin my life!"

"I can't do it baby!" he said, grabbing on to her shoulders and pulling her closer. "I can't do it. I love you too damn much."

"I love you too," she whispered.

* * *

Over the next month and a half Sawyer and Kate hung out more than ever. She went over to his house every day. They continued to sleep together. Most of the time in the middle of the afternoon with Clementine just in the other room. Kate always started out protesting, but Sawyer always talked her into it. She always felt like it was weird that Clementine was there, but she enjoyed what Sawyer did to her too much. She and Jack continued to have problems. Kate almost always tried to blame it on herself since she was now sleeping with Sawyer, but Sawyer always reminded her that Jack was never around anyway.

Kate and Sawyer were sitting on the couch at Kate and Jack's house. Jack was once again on a trip. Kate kept noticing Sawyer looking at her. She smiled widely and practically kicked the coffee table over to get on top of him. He chuckled softly underneath her. She kissed him softly and slowly. He flipped over on top of her and kissed her neck.

She unbuttoned his pants, and he followed suit. They made quick love on the couch. She moaned loudly and he did too. They both enjoyed moments when they didn't have to worry about being too loud. After they were done, Kate stood up and lead Sawyer upstairs.

"Where ya going Freckles?" he asked.

"Round 2," she whispered. He kissed her hard and they blindly made their way up the stairs. This time they were already naked, so they just got under the covers and held each other. Starting slowly, so that they could both recuperate.

* * *

"I love you Sawyer," she said quietly as they laid in each other's arms for the second time.

"I love you too Freckles," he stated.

"I'm leaving him tonight," she whispered.

"What?" he chuckled.

"When he comes home," she replied. "I'm going to tell him about us. We're going to be together. I'm leaving him."

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked.

"No," she shook her head. "I gotta do it on my own."

"Ok," he whispered.

Sawyer left the house, and Kate got ready for Jack to come back home. She took a shower, and got dressed. She went downstairs to wait for Jack.

He walked through the front door and put his bags down. Before he could say anything Kate jumped up from her spot and wrapped her arms around him.

"Welcome home," she whispered.

"Hey," he chuckled. He kissed her on the lips and she smiled weakly. "Ok…so I would love to stay and chat but I've been on an airplane all night…I really need a shower. You wanna join me."

"No," she shook her head. "It's ok. I just took one."

"Why?" he asked, and then came to a certain realization…something was wrong. "What's going on Kate?"

"I'm leaving you," she whispered.

"What?" he asked. "You're-were you even going to tell me? Or were you gonna just leave while I was in the shower?"

"I just told you didn't I?" she asked. "I fell in love with someone else."

"Who? Him?" he questioned.

"Jack I-"

"No," he chuckled. "I-it's ok…when?"

"What?" she asked.

"When did you first sleep with him Kate?" he questioned. She didn't say anything. "When?!"

"2 months ago," she whispered.

"Did you have sex with him tonight?" he asked.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Where?" he asked. "Where?!"

"Here," she whispered.

"Ok," he nodded. "Where?"

"I just-" she began.

"Where did you screw him Kate?" he asked. "I need to know so I can tell which pieces of furniture to get rid of."

"There," she whispered pointing to the couch.

"How?" he asked.

"W-what?" she asked.

"How Kate?" he asked.

"Why are you doing this?" she sighed and started walking away.

"Because I need to know every detail!" he screamed. "I need to know how someone else got to touch you Kate! What did you do? Where? How?"

"First we started there," she began. "I kissed him first and he got on top of me. Then I lead him to the bedroom and we had sex on the bed."

"Is he good?" he asked.

"Jack-" she began.

"Is he good!" he yelled.

"Yes," she nodded. "He's good."

"Better than me?" he asked

"Don't do this," she whispered.

"Just! Just tell me," he started loudly, and then got quieter.

"Yes he's better than you," she whispered.

"What else?" he asked. "What else Kate?! What do you do?!"

"Everything!" she screamed back. "We do everything Jack! I never get sex from you so I found the neighbor to screw me! I love him Jack! I love what he does to me and how he makes me feel! I have sex with him every day because you're not around! And I want to keep having sex with him because he is better than you in every way!"

"Thank you," he answered quietly. "Now get the hell out of my house."

"Gladly," she murmured and left the house. She ran across the street and opened Sawyer's door. She knew that Sawyer would have left the front door unlocked for her. She ran up the stairs and into Sawyer's room. She climbed onto the bed and he put his arms around her.

"You ok?" he asked. She nodded slowly against his chest and wrapped her arms around him. He ran his hand down her back and they fell asleep holding each other.

**A/N: Ok...so I know that some of you are Jaters, and are probably disappointed, but I hope you still liked it. Please review!!**


	4. Chapter 4

Sawyer woke up and saw Kate sleeping next to him. He smirked to himself and pulled her closer. He kissed her on the lips and she moaned softly into his mouth.

"Morning," she whispered.

"I like this concept Freckles," he said running his hand across her face. "Having you be the first thing I see when I wake up."

"I like it too," she replied with a smile. She leaned forward and kissed him again. He kissed her back and neither of them came up for air. Sawyer stopped kissing her long enough to tear her shirt up over her head. She chuckled softly and rolled over on top of him. She pulled his boxers off and he flipped them over so he was on top of her. He kissed her softly and slowly. He looked at the clock and noticed that it was 6:00 in the morning.

"It's early," he whispered into her ear.

"Too early?" she asked with a soft chuckle and smile.

"Oh," he shook his head. "Never Freckles."

* * *

Kate was completely naked, laying against Sawyer. He kept kissing her cheeks, and she chuckled softly and wrapped her arms around him tighter.

"This is perfect," she whispered.

"You're perfect," he said running his hand through her hair.

"You're cheesy," she chuckled.

"What about you?" he asked. "You're the one who started it. Anyway I gotta pee…don't move…and don't you dare get dressed."

"Ok," she nodded.

She cuddled under the covers, but stayed awake. She heard the door and figured that it was Sawyer, but instead she saw Clementine coming through the door.

"Kate?" Clementine asked.

"Clem!" Kate exclaimed and covered herself better underneath the covers.

"Hey," Sawyer said softly, coming back into the room. "What are you doing up?"

"I want pancakes daddy!" Clementine exclaimed. Kate looked up at Sawyer and then hid her face in the pillow. She pulled the covers over her head and Sawyer chuckled softly.

"Daddy did you and Kate have a sleepover!" she exclaimed. Sawyer knew that Kate was embarrassed, seeing her move under the covers, and he heard her groan softly.

"Yeah sweetie," Sawyer chuckled. "She's tired. So she's gonna stay up here while I come make you some pancakes."

"Daddy you should bring her breakfast in bed," she said.

"Well that is a very good idea missy Clementine. Now…go downstairs and get me out the milk and the flour…I'll be down in just a minute."

"Ok daddy," she answered and ran from the room.

"Oh no!" Kate squealed and chuckled. "I'm sorry…I should have-"

"Hey," he shook his head and climbed back onto the bed next to her. "She's seen me in bed with a gorgeous woman before. It's ok."

"I'm just-" she began. "I kinda forgot about her…I mean-I-I just wanted to thank you for last night…for taking care of me. For loving me."

"It's not that hard," he whispered. "All I gotta do is look atcha and I fall in love all over again."

"Stop," she said with a smirk, and shoved him playfully.

"You can thank me all you want after breakfast Freckles," he said into her ear. He got up off the bed and headed to the door.

"Sawyer," she shook her head. "Clementine-"

"Clementine will be hanging out with Lottie today," he answered. "And you can stay in bed…I'll bring you breakfast as soon as Clementine is gone."

She sat up further in bed, still holding on to the blanket to cover herself. and smiled at him. Her hair fell over her face and she let go of the blanket to tuck her hair behind her ears. The blanket fell down to expose Kate's bare skin. Sawyer smiled at her.

"Clem can wait 10 minutes for her pancakes," he whispered and went back to the bed. He leaned over her legs and when he was about to press his lips to hers she turned her head.

"What I have in mind Mr. Ford will take a lot longer than 10 minutes," she smirked. He kissed her and then began to back away. He was almost at the door and Kate stood up.

"I'll come with," she said, pulling her shirt back over her head. She put on her jeans, without bothering with the underwear.

"Freckles, you're supposed to stay in bed," he said.

"Well I want pancakes with Clementine," she answered. "Besides…I'm going back home after dinner."

"What?" he asked.

"I have to," she began.

"Why?!" he exclaimed.

"Because I have to get my stuff," she answered.

"I'll buy you new stuff," he argued.

"What about my cat?" she asked.

"I'll get you a new cat," he responded.

"Sawyer!" she exclaimed with a smile. "Come on…he's probably already gone anyway…I just want this to be done Sawyer."

"Ok," he whispered. "Well then I'll come with you…because if he is home I don't want him to come anywhere near you."

"Sawyer, he wouldn't hurt me," she sighed.

"Maybe not," he replied. "But you'd be surprised what a man, who's in love and heartbroken, could do."

"I just don't want any more problems," she whispered.

"I know," he nodded. "But you just said that Jack wouldn't be home…so it shouldn't be a problem if I come with you."

An hour later Charlotte picked up Clementine and left the house. She gave them both knowing glances and Kate looked at Sawyer. Sawyer took her hand in his and pulled her on to his lap.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Love you too," she said, with tears coming into her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Sawyer I'm a horrible person," she sobbed, putting her head against his shoulder. "I never-I shouldn't have left him that way. I never-I didn't want to hurt him. He's taken care of me and loved me for the past-"

"For a year," he interrupted. "A year and a few months Kate. And he doesn't take care of you."

"Yeah he does," she whispered. "I never have to want anything. He always makes sure I have everything."

"Except for a relationship!" he yelled. "I can't believe you're defending him! Kate-maybe he's taken care of you financially. And maybe I'll never be able to provide for you in that way…but that isn't what love is all about. I can give you more than what he can offer…I can actually be here for you. We can actually be a family."

"Would you actually want a family?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he questioned. "It's you, me, and Clem…that is a family Kate."

"I mean a baby," she whispered.

"You're not going to tell me that you're pregnant," he said.

"Well gosh Sawyer," she scoffed. "Would it really be that bad?"

"Well at least we'd know that it was mine," he smirked, showing his dimples. Kate didn't smile back, but instead got up off his lap. He pulled her back down and put his hands on her cheeks. "Hey…what's all this about Freckles?"

"I wanted a baby with Jack," she said softly. "I wanted to have a baby, so I asked him to think about it. He told me that he didn't want a kid right now because he couldn't give his full attention to the kid. He wanted to be there for it I guess. I dunno. But anyway…I want a baby Sawyer. Maybe not right away since we're just now together…but someday. Tell me that someday we can have a baby."

"Well Freckles," he began. "As much as I plan on having sex with you…I'd say that a baby is probably inevitable."

"Shut up," she scoffed, but laughed at the same time. She leaned against Sawyer again and this time kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her and pushed all the breakfast dishes to the floor. Kate heard some of them break, but didn't care as Sawyer lifted her up on to the table. She looked at him with a partial smile/partial frown.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Sawyer," she started. "The breakfast table? I mean…we eat here."

"We can wash it," he replied.

"Just because I left Jack, doesn't give us permission to do it anytime, anywhere," she said.

"Actually cupcake, yeah…it kinda does," he answered and kissed her lips.

"You told me a couple months ago that you didn't need sex," she whispered. "You just needed to be near me…remember that?"

"Still true Freckles," he answered, touching her face again. "If you don't want to then fine. I'll just go upstairs and get dressed."

"I'm gonna go across the street, and get my cat," she stated, standing up.

"I'm still coming with you," he replied.

He took Kate by the hand and they walked to the door. She pulled her hand out of his and looked at him somewhat seriously.

"Can we at least-" she started. "It's gonna be bad enough if the neighbors see me leaving your house, but leaving with us holding hands?"

"You ashamed of me Freckles?" he asked.

"No," she whispered. "Never. I'm ashamed of myself James. I mean look at me. I cheated on my husband."

"It ain't your fault Freckles," he said. "You fell in love with me…I mean right?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Sawyer I love you. I just-I feel horrible. The way I left him last night-I just-I should have told him what I was feeling and maybe we could have worked things out."

"Is that really what you want?!" he exclaimed. "You want to go back to him? Back to being miserable, and cold…alone in your bed? Kate you know that Jack won't change. Tiger don't change his stripes Freckles. No matter how hard they try."

"I've changed," she whispered. "I used to be in love with Jack…but now-"

"You weren't ever in love with him Kate," he said. "You were in love with the idea of him…the heroic doctor who could fix everything…but he can't ever love you like I do."

"Y'know," she smirked. "I think that you might just be right about that."

Kate and Sawyer headed back to her house together. Kate sighed softly to herself as she walked through the door. She tripped over a pile of clothes as she walked into the hallway. She noticed that Jack had thrown all of her stuff to the bottom of the stairs. She sighed softly and started gathering some of the stuff. She walked up the stairs to get her suitcase so that she could carry it back to Sawyer's house. When she got upstairs she heard movement in the bathroom. She walked into the bathroom and saw Jack sitting on the bathroom floor with a bottle of rum. She sighed softly and knelt in front of him.

"Get out of my house!" he screamed.

"Jack," she began. "We're still married unfortunately…so that means that this is still my house-"

"Who paid for it Kate?" he asked. "Who's made all the money since we've been married. Me. You haven't even made one red cent."

"Because you don't want me to work!" she exclaimed.

"You don't want to work," he scoffed. "You like being taken care of."

"Hey!" Sawyer exclaimed appearing in the doorway.

"Oh…wonderful…just wonderful. Get the hell out of my house," he repeated. "Both of you. I left you your stuff a the bottom of the stairs."

"I came back to get my cat, and to put my stuff into a suitcase."

"That luggage is mine," he answered.

"No Jack…we got it as a wedding gift from your parents," she responded. "So half of it is mine."

"MY parents!" he yelled. "_You _don't have parents Kate. Remember…dead dad…dead mom."

"Shut up!" she screamed and lunged at him, but Sawyer was quicker. Sawyer punched Jack hard in the face, and Jack got up and fought back. The two men fought and Kate watched. She couldn't do anything except scream for them to get off of each other. The way they were hitting each other Kate thought neither one of them would stop until the other was dead.

"Stop!" she screamed and sobbed. "Please just stop! Jack don't! Sawyer!! Stop it! Stop Sawyer, you're gonna kill him! Jack no!"

Jack shoved Sawyer to the ground and on his way down Sawyer hit his head on the side of the sink. Kate and Jack looked down at Sawyer's lifeless body. Jack gasped audibly, and Kate put her hands to her mouth.

**A/N: Pleaase pleaaase review?!**


	5. Chapter 5

Kate and Jack looked down at Sawyer. Kate quickly knelt down and was about to touch him and Jack quickly pulled her away.

"NO!" she screamed. "Get off of me!"

"Kate," he whispered. "Don't move him. Go call 9-1-1."

"Why so you can finish him off while I'm gone?" she asked. "You go call."

* * *

Kate and Jack were waiting in the hospital. Neither of them said anything or looked at each other. Kate sat in the chair with her arms folded. Every time the doors opened to the _Authorized Personnel Only _area Kate would perk up and wait for a doctor to come toward them…but it didn't happen. Kate stood up and started pacing.

"What am I going to tell that little girl if her daddy dies?" she whispered.

"Kate…he'll be fine," Jack told her. "He's not gonna die. I'm not a murderer."

"We'll just have to wait and see Jack," she sighed. "He wasn't moving Jack. He was passed out on the bathroom floor, and there was blood everywhere."

"I'm sorry Kate," he whispered. "I didn't mean to hurt him-I just-the fact that the two of you-you're _my _wife Kate. I can't watch someone else take you from me. I hate him Kate. And I hate you too."

"Well then why are you still here?" she asked, turning toward him.

"Because I want to comfort you. I want you to come back to me," he whispered.

"It's not going to happen," she shook her head. "And Jack…don't you have to work today. I don't even know why you were home."

"Nope, no work," he shook his head. "I quit."

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"I quit Kate," h answered. "I don't have to do anything anymore. I quit for you...I won't be busy anymore...I can be home with you."

"I just left last night," she said, narrowing her eyes. "And you already quit?"

"Called this morning," he mumbled.

"Jack-" she sighed.

"I don't want to hear that you're sorry Kate," Jack said. "You're not sorry. You're the one who cheated on me…and don't you dare sit here and cry because I'm not going to feel sorry for you. You know what…yeah. I'm out of here."

Jack stood up and walked out of the ER. Kate closed her eyes and sighed deeply. She never meant to hurt Jack, but Jack was never there for her either so she didn't know what else to do. She was still standing, and walked over to the counter.

"Can you tell me what's going on with James Ford?" she asked.

"Actually," the nurse started. "I was just about to come get you. He's ok. We didn't have to take him in for surgery. He's actually conscious now. He was asking for Freckles."

Kate smiled and followed the woman down the hall. She walked into the room and saw Sawyer sitting up in bed. She walked toward him and sat down on the chair next to his bed.

"Hey," she said. "How you feeling?"

"Oh, just great," he replied, putting his hand on the back of his head.

"When can he come home?" she asked.

"Soon," the nurse answered. "In fact…there was no real damage. He's gonna have a headache all day probably, but he doesn't even have a concussion."

"You're kidding," she said turning back toward the nurse. "He was unconscious. How did he-"

"I don't know ma'am, but he's gonna be just fine," the nurse replied. She sat down on the bed next to him and kissed his lips. She wrapped her arms around him and sighed deeply.

"I don't know what I would have done," she whispered. "I don't know what I would have told Clementine if I came home without you."

"Shh," Sawyer said quietly. "Freckles, don't. It's ok. I'm ok. Did you get your stuff from your house?"

"Yeah," she answered sarcastically. "While you were lying unconscious on my bathroom floor, I had time to pack and bring all my crap to your house."

"Sorry," he shrugged. "I mean-I just wondered."

Kate took Sawyer home and forced him to stay in bed, even though he didn't want to. She spent the day in the room with him. When Clementine came home Kate told her that Sawyer wasn't feeling well, but Clementine insisted on cuddling in bed with her dad. When Clementine noticed that Sawyer had a bandage on his head, she made them tell her what really happened.

That night Kate and Sawyer tucked Clementine in bed and then went back to the master bedroom. Kate still didn't want to call it her bedroom since she had only moved in there the night before. Kate sat down on the bed and then looked up at Sawyer.

"I'm gonna go get Bianca," she whispered. "I don't even know if Jack fed her all day. I'll be right back."

"Just the cat though right?" he asked. "None of your other stuff."

"Sawyer it's no big deal. I'll just go there and I'll be back in no time."

Kate went over to her house and walked through the front door. She half expected all her stuff to still be sitting in a pile at the bottom of the stairs, but instead there were 3 boxes and a rolling suitcase. Kate sighed to herself and walked further into the house to find Bianca.

"Kitty," Kate called. "Come on baby."

Jack came into the room with a frown. Kate looked at him in remorse and sighed softly. Jack walked out of the room and up the stairs. Kate was going to just go find the cat and leave immediately, but instead she followed Jack up the stairs quickly. He was sitting on the bed when she came into the room.

"Is Sawyer ok?" he mumbled.

"Yeah," she nodded. "He's alright."

"I didn't-" Jack started. "I didn't mean for that to happen Kate."

"I know," she whispered. "It was sort of both of your faults anyway. You were both fighting. One of you was bound to get hurt."

"I'm in love with you Kate," he sighed. "I wasn't going to just let you go without a fight."

"Jack," she started. "I just-Sawyer makes me actually feel good. I haven't felt this way in so long Jack. I just-I sometimes feel like the only reason why you married me, is so you could have a wife. But I never-from the moment we got married Jack, I almost feel like I'm some sort of chore for you."

"Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?" he asked. "I could have fixed it. We could have gone back to the way we were Kate. I could have fixed everything."

"When we first started having problems I told you," she answered. "And you did say you'd fix it…but you didn't. Jack it just got worse. Look…I gotta go."

"What is he waiting for you?"

"As a matter of a fact yes," she nodded. "And in case you forgot…you bashed his head opened earlier today so I don't really want to leave him home alone for a long period of time."

Kate left the room and went downstairs to find the cat. It didn't take her long once Kate started calling her. Kate picked up the cat and took the suitcase. She decided she would come get the boxes another time.

She walked across the street and into her new house. She put the cat down and carried the suitcase up the stairs. When she went into the bedroom she put the suitcase down and opened it. Sawyer sat up on his elbows and looked down at her.

"What are you doin'?" he asked.

"I'm getting my pajamas," she answered.

"Why bother?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Well," she began. "Number one would be the fact that your daughter walked in on us this morning, and it was humiliating, and secondly…what makes you think we're going to be doing anything tonight?"

"Because I was injured, and you told me I could have whatever I want…and I want you," he smirked.

"No," she answered. "I mean yeah, I remember saying that…but no way…you cracked your head opened."

"And the doctor said I was fine," he argued.

Kate continued to get dressed in her pajamas and then climbed into bed next to him. He put his hand against her back and smiled at her. He ran his hand against her head and sighed softly.

"Was he there?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah," she answered. "Look…Sawyer I don't want to fight with you about this. He is-he's my husband ok? And I-I shouldn't have done that to him."

"Maybe not," he shrugged. "But it didn't stop you Freckles. And you still have time to change your mind. If you want to be in a loveless, sexless marriage that's your own business."

"Sawyer," she whispered.

"Do you still love him?" he asked.

"You can't do-" she started. "I-Sawyer you can't ask me that."

"Damn right I can…and I just did," he said. "Do you love him?"

"Of course I do," she responded, with tears coming in her eyes. "But I love you more. Sawyer…we're not even divorced yet. It's been a day. You can't expect me to be all sunshine and roses. I just broke his heart. Ju-just give me some time. Sawyer-I picked you. I'm laying next to _you_. And while yes, I feel horribly guilty for what I did to Jack…I'm not going anywhere."

"Good to know," he whispered and put his hand against her cheek. "So…how about a kiss?"

"You know that I can never just kiss you," she said softly and kissed his lips anyway. He flipped over on top of her and she shook her head.

"What if-" she started.

"Shh," he whispered. "No what ifs Freckles."

Kate got out from underneath him and looked at him seriously.

"Sawyer," she started.

"What?" he asked. "Kate I feel fine."

"I'm tired," she answered. "Let's just sleep. Hold each other."

"Ok," he mumbled. "You win…this time. But tomorrow-"

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," she whispered. She snuggled against him and wrapped her arms around him. "I want to marry you Sawyer."

"What?" he asked.

**A/N: Please review?**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Unhappy Jater-I do totally understand where you are coming from. I don't think that Jack would ever say or do the things that he is doing in my fic, but it is OOC…it's an AU fic so I'm writing it this way on purpose. Jack does get better in this chapter (which I've been writing over the course of the last couple days so it doesn't have anything to do with your review). I do appreciate the review. I like getting criticism, even when the person may be angry with how I write. I am planning to try to write a Jate fic sometime soon. I hope you continue to read this one. **

"What?" Sawyer asked. "What did you just say?"

"I said I want to marry you," she answered, looking up at him confused. "I mean-don't yo-"

"You just spent the past 5, 10 minutes telling me how much you still love Jack," he argued. "Why the hell would you want to marry me?"

"Because you're a better husband than Jack," she replied. "Why are you so mad?"

"I'm not," he sighed. "I just-it seems a little weird. I've never been one for commitment."

"But you haven't been with anyone other than me over the past couple months right?" she asked.

"Yeah," he whispered. "But-I just thought-I thought we'd live here together. Take care of Clem…why do you have to get married?"

"Sawyer, why are you-" she started.

"Let's just wait till you get the divorce," he stated. "Then we'll see."

"Sa-" she began again.

"You're tired Kate, so go to bed," he replied and rolled over.

She sighed to herself and got out of bed. She wanted Sawyer to follow her, but he didn't. She walked into the hallway and Bianca walked over to Kate and rubbed up against her. Kate stood up and walked into Clementine's room. She was sleeping soundly. Kate looked down at the little girl and then went back into the other bedroom. She was still mad at Sawyer, but she was tired, so she wanted to go to bed. She laid down in bed and stayed on the edge of the bed so there was no chance of brushing up against him. She felt him move and his arms came around her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just-it's all a little fast. You just moved in. All I'm saying is let's wait till your divorce is final before we start talking about getting married."

"I just wanted to let you know that my choice is you," she mumbled. "I choose you Sawyer. And I want to stay forever. We should make it official."

"Ok," he sighed. "Maybe some day."

**3 Months Later**

The divorce lawyers were expensive. Sawyer helped Kate pay for it with some of the money he had saved up from a previous con. Kate knew that the money was from a former con, but she was desperate. Sawyer decided to get his real estate license for real. He worked 4 days a week, and spent a lot of time working at home. Kate and Sawyer both took care of Clementine. Kate spent a lot of time just inside the house. She noticed that Jack was at home most of the time. She still felt guilty, but she also thought that Jack needed to pick himself up and go back to work.

Kate and Clementine were sitting at the kitchen table doing an art project. Sawyer was in the office on the phone with a client, so Kate was keeping Clementine occupied so she didn't bother him. Sawyer always insisted that it wouldn't bug him if Clementine played in the office, but Kate knew that he would rather have the peace and quiet.

"I don't want to go to school mommy," Clementine said. "I mean Kate. I'm sorry. I'm sorry Kate. Don't be mad. I didn't mean to call you mommy."

"Oh Clem," Kate smiled. "It's ok."

"But daddy said that mommy is dead," Clementine frowned. "I don't want you to ever ever leave Kate!"

"Honey," Kate sighed and moved over next to Clementine. "I promise. I love you and your daddy more than anything. I'm not gonna go anywhere. I'm here to stay…forever and ever."

"Well," Clementine said. "Then can I call you mommy?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "If you want to call me mommy, you can."

"Yay!" she exclaimed and jumped up into her arms. Kate chuckled and then looked up. Sawyer was standing in the doorway. He smirked and walked toward them.

"Daddy!" Clementine said turning toward him.

"What?" he stated excitedly.

"Kate said I get to call her mommy," she answered.

"Cool!" he exclaimed. He smiled at Kate. She smiled back and reached out her hand. He took it and stepped toward her.

"I gotta go," Sawyer whispered. "But I'll be home in time for dinner."

"Ok," Kate nodded. "We'll see you soon."

"Daddy you should kiss mommy," Clementine smiled. "Because mommies and daddies kiss a lot."

Kate and Sawyer smiled at each other. Sawyer leaned toward her and kissed her softly and quickly. Clementine giggled softly and then pushed her way between the two of them.

"Hey!" Sawyer exclaimed and picked her up. "You told me to kiss her!"

"Bye bye daddy," Clementine smiled.

Sawyer put Clementine down and walked toward the door. Kate followed him, and Clementine stayed in the kitchen. Kate put her arms around Sawyer's neck and kissed his cheek.

"I want to adopt her," she whispered. "I want her to be my daughter for real."

"She loves you," he chuckled.

"I love her too," she nodded. "I've always loved kids. I've always wanted one…and now I feel like I actually have one."

"I'll be back later," he whispered and kissed her lips, this time lingering longer. She waved to him as he walked out of the house. She looked across the street at Jack's house. She sighed to herself, and then shut the door. Every so often Kate would get hang up calls on her cell phone from Jack. She wasn't opposed to talking to Jack, but he always hung up as soon as she answered. She knew that she would have to keep talking to Jack and seeing him while they were going through the divorce, but so far they had been doing it completely through their lawyers.

"Mommy I wanna go to the park," Clementine said coming into the hallway.

"Ok," she nodded. "Let's go. Go get your coat."

Kate and Clementine walked to the park together. Clementine ran to the swings immediately. Kate followed her and began pushing her on the swing…until she noticed a man she didn't recognize watching them. She squinted her eyes, and realized that it was Jack. He was sitting on the park bench with a brown paper bag, which she knew had a bottle of alcohol in it.

"Clementine, I want you to stay here ok?" Kate asked. "I'm gonna go over there and talk to that man."

"Ok," she said.

Kate walked over to the park bench where Jack was sitting and sat down next to him. He didn't look at her, but instead continued to watch the kids play.

"What are you doing here Jack?" she asked.

"I followed you," he mumbled.

"Yeah," she whispered. "I kinda figured that one out. Why?"

"So that I can see you," he answered. "Look. I know that you probably hate me-"

"Jack you're the one who told me that you hate me," she interrupted. "That's the last thing that you ever said to me. 'I hate him, and I hate you too'. That's what you said. I never told you I hated you. In fact…I told Sawyer that I still loved you."

"Then how could you leave me if you still love me," he murmured.

"Because I fell in love with him too," she replied. "Jack, we've done this. We can talk about it till we're blue in the face. But it still isn't going to change-"

"What if I refuse to sign the divorce papers?" he stated.

"Jack don't do this," she whispered. "I love Sawyer. We want to get married…but I obviously can't marry him until our divorce-"

"Stop!" he yelled. He made her jump slightly. "I refuse to except it Kate. You can't just fall out of love over night…so answer me this. Do you still love me?"

"Jack-" she shook her head and was about to continue, when she heard screaming and crying coming from the playground. Clementine was laying on the ground. Kate ran toward her and some of the other people were gathering around her. Kate pushed her way through the crowd and picked Clementine up. Clementine was crying and Kate sighed softly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Are you alright?"

"No!" she exclaimed. "I fell."

"She fell off the monkey bars," a random mother stated.

"Clementine I told you to stay on the swings," she said quietly. "Where does it hurt?"

"My leg!" she cried. Kate walked with her back to the bench, and put her down on her lap. Her leg had a nasty scrape on it, but didn't look like she was hurt anywhere else.

"I wanna go home mommy," she sobbed.

"Ok."

"You got his kid calling you mommy?" Jack scoffed.

"Shut up Jack," Kate said walking away from him.

"Wait!" he exclaimed. "Kate…let me-let me help you. Let me help you with the scrape."

"I got it," she murmured.

"Kate," he said. "Please…will you-just let me help you."

"If I let you…will it get you to leave me alone?" she asked.

"Sure," he nodded.

"Come on," she sighed.

When they got home Jack helped Kate take care of Clementine's scraped knee. Kate really didn't need much help. She only had to put some medicine on the scrape and then put a bandage on it. Jack didn't think that Clementine should need stitches or anything. Clementine wanted to lay on the couch and watch TV until Sawyer got home. Kate went into the kitchen with Jack and they sat down at the kitchen table.

"Well?" Jack asked.

"Well what?" Kate shrugged, looking at him slightly confused.

"You were going to tell me if you're still in love with me," he answered.

"Are you kidding me," she sighed. "Jack-"

"I just want to know," he said.

"I loved you," she responded. "But listen Jack…I'm in love with Sawyer. Sawyer-he understands me completely. And I'm with him now-"

"You're still married to me!" he exclaimed.

"I know," she whispered and shook her head. "But Jack…I want to marry him. I want to be a family with him and Clementine…and he actually said that he'd have a kid with me-"

"Is that what all this is about?" he asked. "Because I don't want kids right now. Fine. We'll have kids Kate. I'll take you back to our house right now and we'll make love and I'll-we'll have a baby."

"Jack stop," she said shaking her head again. "I won't-I can't do that to Sawyer."

"But you thought about it?" he asked. "I see the look on your face. You just thought how great it would be just to come home. Stay married to me and have a family Kate. Don't divorce me because of one small mistake-"

"I'm pregnant," she interrupted.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm pregnant Jack," she whispered. "I haven't told Sawyer yet, because I was going to wait till tonight, but-I'm about 4 weeks-"

"Great," he mumbled. "So what are you gonna tell the judge when you walk in to our divorce hearing and you're 7 or 8 months pregnant Kate? You won't get anything from me."

"I don't want anything!" she exclaimed. "Jack don't you understand? Money is stupid. I mean sure it pays the bills…and everyone needs money, but it's not the most important thing in life Jack. Money and booze is all you care about. You don't care about me…and maybe I'm just-maybe I'm too insecure, and maybe you do love me more than anything…but so does Sawyer. And he actually shows it. He treats me like I'm the most important thing in his life…and he has a daughter-"

"So just because he's a dad, that makes him a good husband?" he asked.

"No," she shook his head. "What makes him a good husband is that we'll eat breakfast…the three of us. And he'll kiss me goodbye and then when he comes home he kisses me again and hugs me. And at night when we're laying in our bed…his arm comes gently around me and he'll give me a soft kiss on the cheek and whisper to me that he loves me. That is what a husband is supposed to do."

"I told you I loved you Kate, but the honeymoon period for you and Sawyer…that's almost done. You remember when we were first together Kate," he said. "Don't you?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "We spent every waking hour together. But that didn't last-"

"Exactly Kate," he interrupted. "It didn't last. So why do you think it will last with Sawyer."

"I guess I don't," she answered. "Jack…you and I haven't been the same for a while-"

"Since you started cheating!" he yelled. "_You _cheated on _me_ Kate. You're making it sound like our entire divorce was my fault. It was your fault too."

"I know," she nodded. "I know it was. And maybe if I had tried a little harder…if we both had made the effort-but-I fell in love with him…and his daughter…I just-I want you to leave now.""

"I love you Kate," he whispered and leaned toward her. Kate turned her cheek and stood up, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Go home Jack," she said, without looking at him.

"Y'know Kate," he sighed. "You tell me to go home…it's our house Kate. Our house."

"This is my house now," she stated. "I'm sorry. This is my house. This is my place…with the little girl who called me mommy for the first time today. And the man who loves me no matter what. He tells me he loves me and calls me his sweetheart."

"Is that what you want?" he asked, coming toward her carefully. He reached out and touched her cheek gently. "You were my sweetheart first. You were my baby. You were mine."

"Well that's the problem Jack," she sniffled. "I'm not Sawyer's…Sawyer knows he doesn't own me. Sawyer just loves me. He doesn't have to know exactly where I am and exactly what I do every day. He would never say to me that I was his."

"Do you regret marrying me?" he asked.

"No," she shook her head. "I just think maybe things would have gone a little differently if we had taken the time to get to know each other."

"How can you do this to me Kate?" he questioned.

"Well I don't know what to say Jack," she shrugged. "You don't want to believe that I'm sorry…so I guess we just go our separate ways. But I am pregnant…and I'm going to have this baby with Sawyer."

"Ok," he mumbled. "I guess I'll see you around…or…maybe I won't."

That night Kate was laying in bed waiting for Sawyer to come back from taking his shower. She had told him everything that had happened, including Jack coming back to her house to talk…and his questioning of her love for him. Sawyer hadn't exactly been happy that Jack was harassing Kate that way, but she assured him that it wouldn't happen anymore. As she laid there in the dark, and silence she was trying to think of ways to tell him about her being pregnant. She heard the door open and Sawyer walked toward the bed wearing only his boxers. He climbed into bed next to her and put his arm around her.

"Miss me?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

"I love you Freckles," he said softly, running his hand down her body. "You know that right? You know that I love you? And you're not planning on going back to Jack anytime soon…or anytime ever right?"

"Right," she smiled and chuckled.

"Ok," he nodded. "First I wanna start out with…I know your pregnant."

"What?" she asked.

"Y'know I may not be the sharpest pencil in the box Kate…but I'm not blind. I saw pregnancy test in the trash. After decoding the damn thing, I figured out that it was a positive."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I'm sorry, I was gonna tell you tonight-"

"Ah ah ah," he said. "I ain't done yet. Well…it's what you wanted right? You wanted to have a baby with me…and well I wasn't married the first time I had a kid, and it worked out because I met you…but-it didn't really work out for Clementine, because now she's never going to know her mom…and I know ok in the end I guess that worked out too because she loves you and she thinks of you as her mom."

"Sawyer what are you trying to say here…you're losing me," she smirked.

"I'm trying to say," he breathed, and reached over to the bedside table and took out a ring…it wasn't even in a box. "This was my grandma's ring…she gave it to my momma and told her to give it to her daughter someday. Well my momma never had the chance to have anymore kids…so-my mom always wore it…but when my daddy-when all the money was gone, my momma was afraid my daddy would try to pawn it…so she put it in my drawer at my grandma's house. I didn't even find it till a couple years after she was dead. My grandma had to tell me the story…but she told me that I should give it to someone I love-I love you Kate. So will you wear this ring."

"Yeah," she nodded and held out her hand. She sniffled and cuddled against Sawyer's chest. He put a hand on her back and chuckled softly.

"Well…it would be kinda silly for you to just wear the ring…so…you wanna get married?" he asked nonchalantly. She chuckled and nodded.

"How did-" she began.

"Kate, I know this is what you want," he whispered. "And I want you to have everything."

"Well now I do," she stated. "And I really hope I can have a son for you."

"Why so I can go play football with the kid?" he asked sarcastically. "I'm just as happy stayin' in playin' dress up with my girls."

"I love you more than anything," she whispered.

"I love you too," he replied.

**A/N: OMG. So I work at a video store…and pretty much all the customers who come in there know that I'm a rabid psychotic fan of Lost…lol. And one of my regulars came in yesterday and we talked for like 45 minutes about our theories. He thinks that Widmore has been to the island before. I think that's very possible…I mentioned that what if Widmore was Charlotte's dad? He thought that was interesting. He thinks that Claire and Jin are still alive (as do I). And he told me that he loved Kate and Sawyer together (which my co-worker and I were talking about too and he was like "don't worry they'll end up together. Jack's too uptight for Kate." LOL. But the customer goes "I wouldn't mind if Sawyer and Kate ended up together because they are cute, but I kinda wouldn't mind if Kate ended up alone." Which more and more I'm kinda leaning that way. As long as Kate doesn't end up with Jack, I'll be fine. And as long as everyone is happy. If she just ends up alone for the sake of ending up alone that would be annoying. Especially if Sawyer was still alive. I just want the season to come back. And I want our Skate reunion! It's going to be so freaking amazing. Ok…enough ramble. Please review my story…or you can PM me to tell me your opinion of my long A/N.**


	7. Chapter 7

Sawyer backed away from Kate only enough to kiss her. She kissed him back and he ran his hand down her back. He flipped over on top of her, and carefully lifted her shirt up over her head. She pushed his shirt up and over his head too. They touched each other's faces and looked at each other.

"So," Sawyer whispered. "You never gave me your answer. Will you? Marry me?"

"Hmm," she shrugged. "I dunno. I have to think about it…yeah ok."

They both let out soft chuckles and Sawyer leaned back down to kiss her. He pulled her pants off and came back up her body. She smiled up at him and they began kissing again. There was movement outside of the door, but neither of them paid much attention to it, until Clementine started knocking on the door.

"Daddy!" she yelled. He got off of Kate and they both grumbled softly.

"Sorry Freckles," he whispered.

"Soon we'll have two of them," she reminded him with a soft smile.

"Damn," he mumbled softly. She smiled wider, he kissed her lips and then got out of bed.

"Daddy!" Clementine screamed again, obviously upset that Sawyer was taking too long. Sawyer went to the door and opened it calmly.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"Daddy I wanna sleep in here tonight," she answered. "Please can I momma?"

Sawyer looked back at Kate and she nodded.

"Yeah Clem," she answered. She grabbed her robe and threw it over her, then went into the bathroom to get dressed the rest of the way. Kate was standing in the bathroom, looking at her ring. She thought about what Jack had said earlier that day about the honeymoon period. It was true that when she and Jack first got together they couldn't keep away from each other. Even the first few months of their marriage Jack would get home before dinner, but it didn't last. She wondered if it would last with Sawyer, but she didn't really care. Maybe she was a selfish bitch, but she wanted Sawyer. She fell in love with him, without even meaning to. She also knew that Jack had every right to hate her and be angry at her, but it wasn't going to make her go back to him. She wanted to try and make it work with Sawyer. She owed it to herself, Sawyer, and her unborn baby…and even Clementine to try to make a life with Sawyer work. She wasn't sure if marriage was what Sawyer really wanted and she was planning to talk about it more in depth with Sawyer, but now she would have to wait till the morning. She opened the door and Sawyer was standing in front of her. He walked toward her, and she walked backwards into the bathroom.

"Sawyer," she chuckled. "What are you doing?"

"I'm spending some time alone with my fiancé," he replied. He leaned in and kissed her. She kissed him back, and then he started taking her pajama bottoms off.

"Sawyer," she shook her head. "Clementine will be able to hear everything, and you know it."

"Well then at least tell me what you're thinking…right now," he said.

"I'm thinking," she replied, draping her arms around his neck. "How much I love you. And I was going to ask you if this is what _you _really want."

"It doesn't matter," he shook his head. "Freckles…I'm sure that I want you to wear that ring. And I just-I figure…you said you wanted to adopt Clementine and I thought maybe we should just get married-if we're gonna be living together forever anyway…we might as well get married. Plus, when Clementine starts school all her little friends are gonna wonder why her momma has a different last name than her and her daddy."

"Well people are gonna know that I'm not really her mom anyway," she shrugged.

"I want you to be her mom," he whispered. "You're a better mom than Cassidy ever was."

"Well Cassidy did spend 5 months raising her," Kate chuckled.

"Yeah," he murmured. "5 damn months, and then just drop her at daddy's house, never to be heard from again. At least she could have had the decency to tell me to her face that she was a stupid coward."

"Sawyer," she whispered. "Look at yourself…you're a great daddy. And you wouldn't have had that chance if Cassidy hadn't left her here."

"I know," he nodded. "Believe me. I know. I just-I love her so much Kate…how the hell could her mom just leave her? How could anyone just leave their kid?"

"I dunno," she shook her head. "I look at that little girl in there, and I see so much of you in her. I mean not just because she has blond hair and blue eyes…but her personality. She's a wonderful little girl all because of you."

"Can I kiss you now?" he asked. She smirked and raised herself on her toes. She let their lips come inches apart and then smiled.

"You don't ever ask me that," she whispered. "Just do it."

"Ok," he answered. He stepped toward her, and kissed her lips. Then he dipped her down and kissed her more passionately. Kate couldn't help but smile. Sawyer pulled Kate back up into a standing position and touched her face softly. She smirked and then headed toward the bathroom door.

"Let's go," she replied.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I want to go lay down," she responded.

"Why? Are you tired?"

"Not really," she shrugged. "But once Clementine's asleep we can carry her back to her room, and then continue where we left off."

"OK," he sighed. They walked back into the bedroom and Clementine was jumping up and down on the bed. Sawyer picked her up and set her down on the bed.

"I see you're feeling much better young lady," he stated.

"What?" she asked.

"Well you're jumping up and down on the bed, so your leg must be feeling better," he answered.

"My leg still hurts daddy," she replied. "I want a story."

"Ok," Kate said. "But after the story it's bedtime."

"I get to sleep here tonight?" Clementine asked.

"Not all night Clementine," Kate answered, sitting down next to Clementine and Sawyer. "We're gonna let you fall asleep in our bed, but then we're gonna take you to your own room."

"Why?" she whined.

"Because," Sawyer began. "You are a big girl, and you can sleep in your own bed."

"Nuh uh!" she exclaimed and crawled over Sawyer to Kate's lap. She hugged Kate tightly and started crying, but Kate knew that she wasn't really crying. Kate looked at Sawyer with a slight smirk.

"Clementine," Kate whispered. "I know you're faking it."

"Fine!" she whined. "I hate you!"

She ran from the room and slammed her bedroom door. Kate and Sawyer stared at each other for a minute, and then Sawyer leaned toward her and went to kiss her lips.

"Sawyer," she chuckled and sighed.

"What?" he asked. "She'll be fine. She has done this before. If she doesn't get her way then she throws a fit. I'm tired of giving into it. And, she's going to start kindergarten soon…she has to learn that not everything might end up the way she wants it to."

"I know," she whispered. "But now she probably really is crying."

"Ok," he sighed. "But she's being a brat-"

"And the mood is kinda ruined now anyway," she answered with a smile.

"I guess that's true," he said pulling her closer. "But…we can just start talking about that romantic proposal."

"Well," she smirked. "I do love my ring."

"I want to buy you another ring," he replied.

"Why?" she asked. "This ring is perfect Sawyer. And it's even better because of the story behind it. I'm proud to wear this ring James. And I'm proud to be with you. I don't want another ring."

"Ok," he replied. "So when is your divorce going to be final?"

"Oh, how romantic," she half scoffed. "I don't even know. I mean-Jack told me that he refuses to sign the papers…but I think I got through to him today. He just-he needs someone."

"But not you?" Sawyer asked.

"No," she shook her head. "Not me. I just-I feel like if he could fall in love with someone else, he could feel ok about the divorce."

Sawyer took a deep breath and kissed her lips softly, and then backed away.

"Are you ok about the divorce?" he asked. "I know-I'm probably just being stupid-"

"I'm-" she began. "Sawyer, I am ok with it. I'm more than ok with it. I'm the one who is asking for it. Sawyer I want to marry you. I love you."

"I know," he whispered. "I just-"

"Believe me…I'm not going anywhere," she replied. "Just like what I told Clementine earlier today. I'm here to stay. You can't get rid of me that easily."

"I don't want to get rid of you Freckles," he chuckled. "I just want to make sure that you're making the right decision."

"Stop," she shook her head. "I'm having a baby. Your baby. Jack doesn't get a say. I know it's probably unfair to him, but it's not really his choice."

She ran her hands up his body and stopped at his neck. He kissed her softly on the lips and then ran his hands over her body and rest his hand on her stomach. She smiled at him and he pushed her shirt up so her stomach was exposed. He ran his hand back over her stomach and then kissed her. She sat up and pulled her shirt up and over her head.

"Thought you said the mood was ruined," he said with a smirk. She shook her head and leaned back down to kiss him. He flipped over on top of her and continued to run his hands over her body. He stopped kissing her and started pulling her pants off, and almost as if Clementine had timed it perfectly there was another knock on the door.

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "Lemme in! Don't you love me!"

Sawyer looked down at Kate who smiled and covered up. Sawyer went to the door and opened it, but stood in the way, so Clementine couldn't get in the room. She had tears streaming down her face. Sawyer knelt down to her level and wrapped his arms around her.

"Love you Clementine," he whispered.

"I love you too," she sobbed.

Sawyer stood up, still holding Clementine. He turned back around, and somehow in the minute that he had turned his back on Kate, she had gotten redressed, and walked over to Sawyer and Clementine. Clementine reached out to Kate and Kate took her.

"I'm sorry Kate," she whispered. "But I still wanna call you mommy."

"Sweetie, of course you can still call me mommy," Kate answered.

"I'm tired," Clementine whispered and put her head against Kate's neck.

"Is it ok if I carry you back to your room then?" Kate asked.

"I want daddy to come too!" she exclaimed, slightly panicked.

"Ok," Sawyer said, putting his hand against Clementine's head. "I'll come too. Don't worry."

They carried Clementine back to her room, and told her a bedtime story. Kate and Sawyer walked back to their room and shut the door for the final time. Kate crawled into bed and sighed deeply. Sawyer wrapped his arms around her and began kissing the back of her neck.

"Sawyer," she chuckled, and flipped over. "We've been interrupted now twice, and you still-"

"Hell yeah I still," he answered. "I've never been the romantic type Freckles-"

"Yeah, that I already know," she interrupted.

"I've actually never even contemplated proposing to anyone," he continued. "But since I kinda just gave you a family heirloom…I was kinda thinking that we'd celebrate."'

"Well," she smirked. "You do have a point there Mr. Ford."

"Do I Mrs. Ford?" he asked quietly, and leaned toward her. She smiled, and then he kissed her. She quickly pulled her pants off and tossed them on the floor. Sawyer flipped over on top of her and kissed her down her body.

"I love you," he whispered to her stomach, and then he came back up her body.

"Were you talking to me, or to the baby?" she asked with a smirk.

"What would make you happier?" he asked.

"Sawyer," she sighed and shoved him playfully. He came back toward her quickly and kissed her again. As they slowly made love, neither one of them closed their eyes.

They were laying on their sides looking at each other. Sawyer had his arm over her head and was stroking her cheek. She smiled at him and leaned forward to kiss her. Neither of them bothered to get redressed. Kate claimed that she always thought it was weird that people would get redressed.

"You are the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen in my life," he whispered.

"Are you trying to get in my pants?" she asked.

"Well," he started. "Actually you aren't wearing pants. And it seems like I already did get into them Freckles."

"Ok," she chuckled. "What happened to my romantic fiancé?"

"I just told you you're the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen," he argued. "Don't you think that's just a little bit romantic."

"Yeah," she said softly. "I'm scared."

"Of what darlin'?" he asked, stroking her face again and running his hand down her body. "What are you scared of?"

"Having this baby," she whispered. "I don't-I don't want to screw up. I've been a screw up my entire life…starting with-oh it doesn't even matter…I just-my baby-I mean our baby-"

"Will be the one absolutely great thing we've done," he interrupted.

"Sawyer I have a secret," she sniffled and shook her head. "I'm so scared-I'm so scared that if I tell you I'll lose you forever."

"Sweetheart," he whispered.

"I killed someone," she said quickly. "5 years ago. I killed my dad."

"W-what?" he asked.

"And now I'm just gonna go," she whispered. She rolled away from him and he quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward him.

"Kate," he said softly. "What the hell are you talking about? You can't just tell me you murdered your father and leave it at that. Tell me what happened."

"I-" she said with a sniffle. "5 years ago I went to my parents house. I was going to make a scrapbook for my father…for his birthday. I was up in the attic looking through some of the old pictures that my mom kept up there. I-I found some pictures from before I was born. Actually-a letter. A letter from my dad. The date was December 25th 1970. I was born May 25th 1971."

"So?" he asked.

"In the letter," she sighed. "My dad mentioned how much he missed my mom. He had been overseas for 6 months, and was going to be coming home soon. I did the math Sawyer…and my dad isn't my dad. The man who-my mom and dad got divorced a few months after I was born…I had a step dad for my whole life. And my step dad. He-he would beat me up…me and my mom. When I was 5 he-"

She didn't finish her sentence before she leaned against him and fell apart into tears.

"That bastard," he whispered. "Did he-did he rape you?"

"No," she shook her head. "He just-he touched me. He told me that if I ever told anyone my mom would die. I told my mom after I found out that Wayne was my real dad. And a few months later she was diagnosed with cancer."

"Oh Kate," he said softly.

"Well…she didn't believe me," she answered. "She told me that Wayne would never do anything like that. So I killed him. And then I met Jack. He saved her. He saved my mom. And then-one night…I was talking to Jack. And I ended up telling him. I mean I could never tell him about killing Wayne, but I told him about what he did to me. Few weeks later the cancer was back, and my mom died."

"Freckles," he whispered. He wrapped his arms around her and ran his hand down her back.

"What if it happens again?" she asked with a sob. "What if you die…or the baby-I couldn't live with myself knowing that it was my-"

"Hey," he interrupted. "It is not your fault that you mom died. It's not your fault. People get cancer Kate. It sucks. You can't blame that on yourself. Wayne didn't kill your mom. Wayne-he may be an asshole and he may have deserved to die, but he doesn't have the power to give someone cancer."

"Do you hate me?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Jeez," he whispered. "How the hell could I ever hate you Freckles. I love you more than anything. You are the most important thing in my life Kate."

"What about Clementine?" she asked.

"Ok…well her too," he responded with a smile. "But I love you Kate. And it doesn't matter that you killed someone Kate, because he obviously deserved it. But-now I have to tell you somethin'. I killed someone too. I killed-remember-remember when I told you about the real Sawyer?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"I never found Sawyer," he mumbled. "But I killed someone else…someone who I was told was him. I shot him, and then it was too late. I couldn't take it back. I screwed up too Kate. So we're just a couple of screw ups. But maybe we can just be screw ups together."

"Ok," she whispered. "I just have one question…if you killed someone why aren't you in jail?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing Freckles," he replied.

**A/N: So please review? Thanks.**


	8. Chapter 8

Kate smirked, and pressed her face against Sawyer's chest. He could feel that her cheeks were still damp from crying. He lifted her chin and kissed her.

"So?" he asked.

"My mom," she whispered.

"But I thought your mom didn't believe you," he answered. "And I thought she died-"

"She died after I killed him. The police went to the hospital to question her," she said. "I-I went to visit her a few weeks afterwards. She was pretty pissed and she told me she would never forgive me. But then I-she finally believed me. I went to her hospital room, crying. I told her everything he did-I mean-he did it more than once. When I got older…when I was 15, he climbed into bed with me-"

"Freckles," he whispered and ran his hand over her cheek. "Shh. He can't hurt you anymore."

"I know," she sniffled and nodded. "I just-my mom finally believed me. She told the cops that I did it for her. She told the cops that it was all her idea. I killed him by blowing up her house so I could give my mom the insurance money. So my mom said that it was her idea. Then…couple days later she died."

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"Now it's your turn," she said shaking her head, and recomposing herself.

"Easy," he shrugged. "Conned the police officer's wife…he made sure I stayed out of jail. Plus I used the fact that my daughter would have no one. She was actually one of my witnesses. Character witness, y'know."

"What a great team we make," she chuckled and leaned against him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the side of the face.

"You're gonna be alright Freckles," he whispered.

"I know," she nodded. She looked down and took her arms from around Sawyer and put them on her stomach. "I can't believe I'm pregnant."

"Why?" he asked. "It's not like-I mean it was sort of inevitable Kate. And we haven't been using protection."

"I know," she whispered. "It was stupid."

"Why?" he asked again. "I thought you wanted to get pregnant Kate. What's the big deal?"

"I just want to make sure this is what you want-"

"Is this a weird hormone thing?" he interrupted. "Cuz I ain't gonna tell you again. I asked you to marry me because I love you Kate. I want us to be together. And maybe it's not exactly planned that you're pregnant, but like I just said…what did you think would happen…we had sex…we have sex pretty much every night Freckles…and to my knowledge you don't take birth control, and we ran out of condoms like the first week you lived here."

"I know," she whispered. "But what if-"

"Shh," he shook his head and pressed his lips to hers. "Go to sleep. Everything is going to be ok Kate. And you're going to be a great mom. You already are."

"You're right," she sighed. "You're right. This is going to be great."

**5 Months Later**

Sawyer still worked from home, and he was glad he could because he didn't want to leave Kate alone with Clementine while she was pregnant. Clementine was at school for only half the day, and she was always a bundle of energy when she came home. Kate insisted that she was fine, but she still thought it was sort of cute that Sawyer was always worried about her.

Kate walked out to the mailbox and saw Jack pulling into the driveway. She sighed softly to herself. She was wearing a tank top that was a tad bit too small because she was in her pajamas still. She hoped that Jack wouldn't make a big deal, since he already knew that she was pregnant. She opened the mailbox and got a letter from her lawyer. It was a thick envelope, and she was sure that it was the divorce papers. She decided not to wait to get into the house before opening the envelope. She pulled the thick stack of paper from the envelope and discovered that Jack had signed every page, except for one. She felt him walking up behind her and she turned around, hoping to God that he wasn't going to start trouble.

"Hey," he murmured. He was wearing his hospital scrubs, which surprised her, but also made her happy.

"Hi," she whispered.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, he looked down at her stomach. "I mean-I don't mean to pry-I just-"

"I'm good," she nodded. "Thanks. Um…Jack-I know that we had an agreement to not talk about divorce stuff without our lawyers, but-um…you-you missed a page."

"Oh," he said softly. He pulled a pen out of his shirt pocket and clicked it on and Kate pointed at the spot where he was supposed to sign. "I'm sorry. I know you just want to get this over with Kate…believe me…I kinda do too."

"It's ok," she said, suddenly feeling like she was about to cry. "You don't have to be sorry Jack. It's not your fault. None of it is."

"Well a little bit of it is," he answered with a small comforting smile. "If I had been there for you like Sawyer was…"

"Don't," she shook her head, and a couple tears fell.

"Don't what Kate?" he asked.

"Don't be nice to me," she responded. "Not after what I did to you."

"Kate," he sighed. "I was really pissed off when all this first happened. I thought 'how dare she blame this on me'…but then…after talking to a few people…they told me that they didn't blame you. They told me that I had been really inattentive to you. My secretary told me I was an outright asshole to you…so Kate I'm sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen."

"Me neither," she sobbed. "I didn't-I know it sounds really stupid but I didn't mean to cheat on you either. It was like-I dunno…when it happened I wasn't thinking, all I could think about was how Sawyer was making me feel. I didn't care that it could hurt you."

"Hey," he whispered. "Come on Kate, don't cry…please? It's not good for the baby."

"Pregnant women get emotional all the time," she answered, still crying. "At least that's what all those books say."

"Ok," he chuckled. "It is normal, and it won't hurt the baby…I just hate seeing you cry. But you're happy right. I mean…Sawyer…he's still treating you right. You're still-I just-I want you to be happy Kate. And obviously I couldn't make you happy."

"I'm happy," she nodded. He nodded too and then began to walk away. Kate reached out and took his hand. He turned back, slightly confused, and Kate stepped toward him and hugged him. He hugged her back and ran his hand down her back. He felt Kate tense slightly as he hugged her.

"Sorry," he whispered. Kate nodded and let out a chuckle, but didn't let go of him.

"I'm having a girl," she said.

"That's great Kate," Jack replied, letting go of her. "Have you had any baby showers?"

"3 of 'em," she chuckled. "Sawyer's friends at work threw me one, and then some of the mothers that are at Clementine's school threw me one, but Clementine felt left out because it was a grown-ups only type thing, so she insisted to throw me one at her classroom. All the kids made the baby welcome home cards. It was so cute, but Clementine thought that the baby would be born right then and there so she was pretty disappointed."

Kate put her hand against her stomach and winced slightly. Jack put his hand against her shoulder.

"Kate?" he asked.

"Um," she winced again. "Go get Sawyer."

Before he could leave she collapsed into his arms. Jack quickly lowered her to the ground. She was still conscious, but she was still holding her stomach.

"Jack!" she screamed. "Go get Sawyer!"

Jack wasn't even to the steps when Sawyer came running out of the house. Jack could only guess that he either heard Kate screaming, or he was watching from the window.

"What the hell did you do?!" Sawyer yelled at Jack.

"Sawyer!" Kate exclaimed. "Don't! It wasn't him.

Sawyer sighed and walked past Jack. He didn't have time to yell at Jack right now, so he went toward Kate and picked her up. Kate put her face against Sawyer's neck and he carried her into the house. Jack followed quickly, not because he was trying to butt in, but because he was honestly worried about her.

"Kate?" Jack asked, walking toward her.

"Sawyer," she winced again. "Sawyer something's wrong. I can't-we have to go to the hospital."

Sawyer looked at her for a moment longer and then looked at Jack, who was biting down on his lower lip.

"Yeah," Jack nodded. "Get her to the hospital Sawyer."

"I gotta call a sitter for Clementine," he replied.

"Daddy!" Clementine exclaimed coming into the room.

"Wait," Jack said calmly. "You don't have time. Get Kate to the hos-get her…take care of her. Or do you want me to take her? I can stay here with Clementine if you need me to or I can take Kate."

"Stay here," Sawyer mumbled. "I don't want Clem around this. Clementine, I'm gonna go out for a little while. Mommy isn't feeling good."

"You should make her soup daddy," Clementine stated.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'll make sure to do that. But Jack is going to stay here for a while with you ok?"

"No!" she exclaimed.

"Sawyer," Kate said grabbing his arm.

"Clementine there's no time to argue," he replied. "You be good for Jack."

Without waiting for an answer from Clementine, Sawyer helped Kate out of the house and down the front steps. He drove to the hospital, and reached over to hold Kate's hand on the way there.

"Sawyer," Kate whispered, once they were at the hospital. They were given a room almost immediately which surprised Sawyer, but it seemed to take forever for the doctor to come in and examine Kate.

"What darlin'?" he asked, looking at her and taking her by the hand. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it softly.

"Jack didn't do anything," she told him.

"Why are you worried about that Jackass?" he asked.

"Because," she answered. "I don't want you to go home and bite his head off…or kill him. I don't need that right now-look. Jack was telling me how it was his fault that we got the divorce."

"It was!" Sawyer almost yelled.

"Shh," Kate whispered, and scoffed. "Look…I was the one who cheated-"

"Because he wasn't there for you," he replied, this time more calmly.

"Yeah," she nodded. "But I'm still the cheater. It's not all Jack's fault that we got the divorce. We both-neither one of us made much of an effort to save our marriage. Anyway he signed the papers."

"Where are they?" he asked.

"I dropped them," she said softly. "Oh crap! I dropped them. On the driveway."

"Ok," he said, putting a hand against her shoulder. "I'll call home and see if Jack picked them up. It's ok."

"Don't yell at him," she pleaded. "He hugged me and then I-I was just telling him about the baby shower that Clementine threw me at her class, and I started feeling woozy. Jack caught me before I hit the pavement. He didn't do anything."

"Ok," he nodded. "If you say so, then I believe you…but if I find out that he upset you-"

"He didn't," she shook her head.

Sawyer left the hospital room. He couldn't get the cell phone to work in the hallway. He went down the hall and requested to use the office phone. They told him to go outside with the cell phone where he could get better reception. After arguing with the office people for 5 minutes he decided that he should just call outside so that he could get back to Kate.

Sawyer wasn't back yet when the doctor came in to examine Kate. She turned on the ultrasound machine and the baby's heartbeat filled the room.

"That's the baby's heart right," Kate sighed. "It's not mine? Because mine is going a mile a minute right now…I'm sure that thing could pick it up-"

"It's the baby's," the doctor said gently. "Mrs. Shephard, you are about an inch dilated."

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"Mrs. Shephard please calm down."

"Maybe she'd calm down if you stopped calling her by her ex-husband's name," Sawyer replied, coming into the room.

"I'm terribly sorry," the doctor replied, looking at the chart.

"My chart should say Austen," Kate said softly. "That's been my name ever since I've been pregnant."

"Oh ok," she said. "It looks like the emergency chart is a little different. You came to the emergency room about 7 months ago with bad cut…you had to get stitches."

"I was putting up the bathroom mirror and it fell," Kate explained. "So then…yeah I was Katherine Shephard, but now I'm Katherine Austen."

"And now it's official," Sawyer said softly. "He got the mail. He said as soon as we left he went and picked it up. Hopefully he won't mess with it."

"Sawyer," she sighed. "Doctor…you were saying-please…tell me you can stop it. I mean I'm only 6 months-I can't-I can't lose this baby."

"The good thing is that you're not actually in labor," the doctor replied. "You're body might just be getting ready-"

"You just said I was an inch dilated," Kate argued.

"I know," she nodded. "But as long as you're not having any contractions, and as long as your water doesn't break, you're fine. We're gonna hook you up to a fetal monitor, and we'll keep you for a few hours, at least. If you have no more symptoms over the next few hours we'll send you home. And as long as you don't dilate any more, you should be fine."

"Ok," she whispered. The doctor left and Kate leaned back on the pillows. Sawyer looked at her and reached over to take her hand.

"You'll be alright," he said softly. "And so will the baby."

"We should think of names," she stated softly. "I don't want to bury our daughter without a name."

"Hey," he stated quickly. He climbed into the bed next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "We are not going to bury our daughter Kate."

"Ok, well I still think we should think of names," she whispered. "Sawyer, I don't want to lose our baby…but if we do, we should at least have the decency to name her."

"Ok," he replied stroking her head. "I don't know any. Clementine Elizabeth was Cassidy's idea…not mine."

"Sawyer," she half chuckled. "Don't make me laugh."

"Why not?" he asked. "These are the times we're supposed to make each other laugh."

"Because it hurts," she frowned. "Ow. Ow. Sawyer go get the doctor."

Sawyer quickly got out of the bed and ran down the hallway. The doctor was coming up the hallway with the fetal monitor as Sawyer headed down the hall.

"Doc!" he exclaimed. "It's Kate…she's-something's wrong I think."

The doctor and Sawyer went quickly into the room. Kate was holding her stomach and Sawyer quickly went back to his chair by her bed. He took her hand quickly and the doctor started hooking up the machine.

"What's wrong Mrs…Katherine?" the doctor asked.

"If she knew don't you think she'd say something?" Sawyer scoffed. "We don't know."

"I think I had a contraction," she murmured. "I don't-I don't know-please. Please I can't-if I lose the baby I won't-please help me."

"Ok," she said softly. "It's alright Katherine…we'll see what's going on."

"Kate," she whispered. "Call me Kate."

The doctor hooked up the machine and looked at the screen. Sawyer looked at Kate and put his hand against her face. He was shielding her face from looking at the machine.

"I want to know what's going on," she whispered.

"I know," he answered. "But you ain't gonna be able to read that machine anyway and those little lines are just gonna freak you out."

"I love you," she sobbed. "Don't let the baby die Sawyer."

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to either of you," he said sternly. She closed her eyes and nodded. She took a deep breath and looked at the doctor.

"Ok," the doctor sighed. "I can't tell whether what you had right now was a contraction or not…but we're going to keep you closely monitored. Next time something happens let someone know, and we'll send someone in to check the machine."

"Ok," she whispered.

Over the next hour Kate had 2 contractions. The doctors didn't seem to be worried enough for Kate's liking, but she knew it was just to keep her calm. Unfortunately it wasn't really working. Sawyer left the room once more to call home and keep Clementine posted on when they might be home. He hadn't told her anything about what was going on, only that he and Kate had to go out for a while. He didn't know what he was going to tell her if they had to spend the night.

When Sawyer went back in to the hospital room the doctor was talking to her. She was nodding slowly and crying again. Sawyer went over to her side and sighed to himself.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I had another contraction," she said softly. "So they're giving me medicine."

"We're just going to give her some of this drug, it should help the contractions. But-"

"But what?" she sobbed.

"It doesn't always work," she said softly. "But sometimes it does-"

"What are the odds here doc?" Sawyer asked.

"It's about 60/40." she answered.

"So 60 percent that it will work?" Sawyer asked, stopping Kate from sitting up farther.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"So what happens if it doesn't work?" Kate questioned.

"Well, then we'll try to slow it as much as possible Kate," she replied. "We're going to do everything in our power to keep that baby inside you as long as possible. But for now, the baby isn't in distress, she's perfectly ok."

"How is she perfectly ok?" Kate asked. "She's-she has to stay inside me."

"And we're going to do everything we can to make sure that she does," the doctor half smiled. "I'll be right back Kate."

The doctor left and Kate turned her back to Sawyer. Sawyer got into the bed behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He rested his hands on her stomach and rubbed her stomach softly. She took a deep breath and wiped her cheeks.

"It's gonna be ok," she breathed. "This damn medicine is going to work, and we're-we're not having this baby today. She's supposed to be born in another 3 months, and that's when we're having her."

"That's right Kate," he whispered. When the doctor came back with the syringe Sawyer noticed that the name on the lab coat was Rory.

"Rory," Sawyer said out loud.

"I never introduced myself actually," she chuckled. "My name is Rory Johnson. Please. Doctor Johnson is my dad, so call me Rory."

"Ok," Kate nodded. "Is it going to be ok?"

"I don't know yet," Rory shrugged. "But I promise we will do everything we can."

It was another 2 hours later and Kate had stopped having contractions. She was in a much better mood and much more optimistic. The doctor told her that she should spend the night just in case, but Kate kept insisting she was fine, and just wanted to sleep in her own bed. Sawyer thought it was probably a good idea to stay at the hospital, and he finally convinced her to stay. He had fallen asleep in the chair next to her. She was having a hard time falling asleep so she watched informercials on TV. She rolled over to her side, and suddenly had the sensation that she wet her pants. She sat up and gasped loudly.

"Sawyer!" she said out loud. She pressed the nurse call button and threw the TV remote at Sawyer to wake him up.

"What?" he grumbled.

"Sawyer," she said again. "Sawyer, my water just broke."

The doctor came into the room and looked at Kate.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"My water just broke," Kate said.

"Ok," Rory nodded. "We have to take her into the delivery room now."

"Wait," Sawyer said. "Can't you just-I thought you said you could stop it."

"We can, but once the water breaks," Rory began. "We don't have unlimited time anymore. Now the baby can catch all sorts of infections. We have to get her out of you as soon as we can."

"But it's too early!" Kate yelled.

"Freckles," Sawyer whispered, and put his hand against her forehead.

"You told me you'd stop my labor!" Kate continued yelling.

"Kate," Sawyer said kneeling next to her. "I told you 5 hours ago when we first got here that I wouldn't let anything happen to either of you-"

"You lied," she interrupted.

"Let's go," the doctor said, seeing a couple nurses arriving. They went into the delivery room. Kate refused to push, until the doctor threatened to just do a c-section.

The baby didn't cry when she was born, but Kate did. Sawyer and Kate were back in the hospital room. Sawyer was laying in the bed again, and this time Kate was snuggled against him. She didn't want to fall asleep, but the doctors gave her a sedative so that she could get some rest, so she had fallen asleep. Sawyer was still awake. He wanted to go down to the nursery to see the baby, but he knew that she was probably in a special part of the hospital, and he didn't want to go without Kate. Besides, he didn't want to leave Kate's side either.

The doctor told Sawyer that she would go check on the baby and let Sawyer know how she was doing. Kate stirred slightly and then started moving her hands up Sawyer's neck. She moved closer to him and put wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Sawyer," she whispered.

"Right here," he said running his hand down her back. "I'm not going anywhere."

"What about Clementine?" she asked.

"Clementine is fine," he answered. "I called home right after you went to sleep. Jack's gonna spend the night with her."

"When can we try again?" she asked with a soft sob.

"Kate," he said. "Sweetheart, Rory went to find out how the baby is. She's not dead."

"How do you know?" she questioned, lifting her head. "She didn't cry when she was born Sawyer. Babies are supposed to cry when their born. It's how you know that they're ok."

"I didn't cry," he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"What I just said," he answered. "My mom used to tell me that story. She told me I was the happiest baby she ever saw…I didn't even cry when I was born."

"Were you premature?" she asked.

"2 months," he whispered.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" she asked.

"Because you were freaked out enough about this pregnancy Freckles," he replied. "I didn't want to make things worse. I didn't want to worry you. I knew I was going to tell you as soon as the baby was born. But you know that thing you said…you said that our daughter deserved to be buried with a name…well she deserves to live with a name too right? What should we name her darlin'?"

"Rory," she whispered.

"What?" he asked.

"Rory has been here with us the whole day…and she's still here," Kate answered. "We should name her Rory."

"Rory it is," he nodded with a small smile.

"Rory Mary Diane," she said softly. "I wanna go see her."

"I brought a picture," Rory replied, coming in to the room.

"Can't we go down there?" Kate asked.

"Do you feel-" she began.

"I feel fine," Kate answered quickly. "I want to go see my daughter."

"Ok," she nodded. "Let me just go get you a wheelchair."

"No!" Kate exclaimed. "I can walk."

"It's just for a precaution," Rory answered. "I'll be right back…it won't take long at all."

Kate waited and Rory came back quickly with a wheelchair. Sawyer helped her stand up and helped her sit down in the chair. Rory was going to wheel her, but Sawyer shook his head and pushed her to the side. Rory nodded and walked with them down to the nursery. They went into the premee nursery. There was only one other family in the room. Kate and Sawyer figured it was because it was so late. Sawyer wheeled her over to where Rory was walking.

"We want to name her Rory," Kate whispered softly.

"That's so sweet," Rory said with a smile. "Well there she is. Your new daughter."

Kate stood up with Sawyer standing next to her and she leaned against his shoulder. They looked down at the baby, who looked like something you would see in a scary movie. Kate turned toward Sawyer and shook her head.

"I can't," she whispered. "She's so helpless."

"She's gonna survive this Kate," Sawyer answered running his hand across the back of her head.

"I wanna go home," she said. "I wanna take her home."

"I know," he nodded. "But we're gonna do exactly what the doctors say Kate. We have to."

"I know," she whispered. "I just-I'm tired."

"Ok," he said softly. "Let's get you back to your room then. You can come back tomorrow."

"We're praying for all the babies in here," a man walked over to them. "Our son…Patrick. He's not doing well. So we're praying for him, but we're praying for all the other babies too. What is your daughter's name."

"Rory," Sawyer said, helping Kate sit back down. "Rory Ford."

"We'll pray tonight," the man smiled. "Prayer can be a powerful thing."

"Thank you," Kate whispered.

"Obviously we know nothing about you," the man continued. "We don't even know if you're religious people…but if you wouldn't mind saying a small prayer for Patrick? It can really help ease minds."

"We'll pray for him," Kate nodded. Sawyer wheeled her back to the room, and helped her back into bed. She smiled at him and then shook her head.

"What if-" she started.

"Stop," Sawyer interrupted. "No what ifs Kate. Our daughter will live. Power of prayer right?"

"No," she shook her head. "Prayer doesn't work Sawyer. I was just trying to be nice to the guy."

"I know you don't believe that Freckles," he said softly.

"Go home," she murmured.

"What?" he asked.

"Just go home," she sighed. "Go be with Clementine."

"It's past midnight," he replied. "Hopefully Clementine is fast asleep."

"Someone has to be there in the morning to get her off to school. And to pick her up at 12:00. I obviously can't go…so you're gonna have to."

"I'll be back tomorrow morning," he whispered and kissed her on the forehead.

Sawyer went home, and thanked Jack for staying all night with Clementine. He paid Jack 100 dollars and then went upstairs to Clementine's room. He baby's nursery wasn't even done yet. They had bought the paint, but hadn't painted or put any of the furniture together. Sawyer wasn't tired in the least. He knew that he couldn't put the furniture together because it would wake up Clementine, but he could start painting.

He put tarps down on the floor and poured the paint into paint trays. He had two different colors. Kate wanted to paint the room light green and light purple. No pink. But Clementine insisted that they put some pink in the room since it was a girl.

As Sawyer painted the room he didn't keep track of the time. He painted until 3:00 in the morning, and then looked at his handiwork. He heard a small knock on the door and knew that it was Clementine.

"Mommy? Daddy?" she asked, and started opening the door.

"Come 'ere darlin'," he whispered. Clementine walked toward him and hugged him.

"You smell funny," she said.

"I smell like paint," he told her.

"Can I paint?!" she asked. "I can paint the baby a picture."

"I think that mommy would like that," he replied. He gave Clementine a small paint brush and she started painting a picture on the wall. Sawyer wasn't sure what it was at first, but then the image came together. It was a picture of the family. He let Clementine use pink paint. He knew that Kate wouldn't mind the small amount of pink in the room. Sawyer helped Clementine clean up and then took her back to her own room.

"You gotta sleep for a little while baby," he whispered.

"Why daddy?" she asked.

"Because school is in 4 hours," he replied. "So you gotta sleep for a little while more or else you'll be very tired."

"Fine," she sighed.

Sawyer went back to his and Kate's bedroom. He laid down in bed and stared up a the ceiling. He kept thinking about Kate and Rory. He hoped that Rory would be ok, because if she wasn't, he didn't know how Kate would handle it. He didn't know how he would handle it. He never wanted kids…but the second he held Clementine, when she was a 5 month old baby, he fell in love with her. When he found out Kate was pregnant, he had been scared, but he knew that everything would be ok as long as they had each other. And when he saw the new born baby, even though she didn't look like a normal healthy baby, he loved that baby too.

Kate was staring at her ceiling too. She wanted to get the image of the baby out of her mind. Most parents want to look at their baby every waking second, but she hated seeing the baby like that. She kept thinking that the baby should still be inside of her. She should be laying next to Sawyer, and he should be complaining that her belly was getting in the way. Part of her wanted to talk to Jack. Jack had horrible bedside manner, but he also had the ability to make her believe everything would be ok, even when it wasn't. Like when her mother was dying, Jack made her believe that he could save her, even though he knew he couldn't.

"Everything will be ok," Kate said softly. She wasn't sure if she actually believed it, but saying it out loud surprisingly seemed to help.

**A/N: Please Review!**


	9. Chapter 9

Kate was laying in her bed. She just wanted to go home, and the doctors told her that she had to stay another night. She hadn't gone back down to see the baby yet. She knew that Sawyer would be there soon. She heard the door open and flipped toward the door. Instead of Sawyer, it was Jack. She smiled weakly and he walked toward her.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Jack," she whispered. "Why are you here?"

"I just-are you ok?"

"No," she shook her head. He sighed and sat down next to her. He took her hand in his and gave it a soft squeeze. She rolled toward him and shook her head.

"I'm so-" he began.

"Don't finish that sentence Jack," she mumbled. "I'm tired of people telling me that they're sorry. Sawyer, the doctors, the stupid man in the nursery."

"Have you even gone back down there?" he asked.

"No," she answered quickly and then turned over. "And I don't want to. I just want to go home."

"Freckles," Sawyer said coming into the room and pushing past Jack. "Freckles, are you-"

"I'm fine!" she screamed. "I'm fine! I just want to be left alone. I want to go home! Sawyer…Jack-please…help me. I just want to go home."

"I'll see what I can do," Jack replied leaving the room. Sawyer sat down in Jack's chair and reached over to touch Kate's back. He touched it softly and then she moved away again. He sighed and climbed into the bed next to her. She attempted to move away from him again, but he only wrapped his arms around her and kept quiet.

"Baby," he whispered. "It's ok. You can cry."

"I don't-I don't want to do anything," she answered. "I just want to go home Sawyer."

"You don't want to be with the baby?" he asked.

"I can't," she shrugged. "I can't just watch her. I can't even hold her Sawyer, so what the hell is the point. I want to go home."

"Kate-"

"Sawyer, I want to go home," she repeated.

"Ok," he nodded. "I'll-I'll take you home."

Jack came back and told Kate she could go home. Sawyer drove her home and neither of them said anything. Sawyer kept wanting to say something, but he couldn't think of what to say to her. When they got home Kate went up into the bedroom. Sawyer went into the kitchen and kept thinking about what Clementine had said the other day. She told him to make Kate soup. Sawyer wasn't sure if she even would eat anything, but he made her some soup and then carried it up to the bedroom. He tried opening the door, but the door was locked.

"Freckles," Sawyer sighed, knocking softly with his knuckles. "Freckles open the door."

There was no answer. Sawyer sighed again and started knocking harder. She still didn't answer. He put the soup down and started jiggling the door knob. He kicked at the door and knew that the wasn't actually going to be able to knock the door down. He went into Clementine's room and found one of her hair clips. He would have to buy Clementine 10 hair clips to make up for ruining this one, but he was going to get in to the room if it killed him. He pushed the clip into the lock and turned it. He heard the lock click and opened the door. He picked the bowl of soup back up and went into the room. He saw the lump that was Kate under the covers, with the comforter pulled over her head.

"Leave me alone," she mumbled from under the covers.

"No can do," he answered. "Freckles, just talk to me."

"Don't want to," she replied.

"Ok," he sighed. "Well then I'll just sit here with you. I'm not gonna just leave you alone right now Kate. Plus I made you some soup…you should eat something."

"Don't want to," she shook her head.

"Come on, you're acting like Clementine-" he began.

"I don't want to!" she yelled. "Leave me alone!"

Sawyer sighed once more and climbed into the bed next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and started running his hand through her hair and down her back. He thought that she would push him away, but instead she wrapped her arms around him too. She backed away from him and leaned toward him. She kissed his lips. He kissed her back and she rolled over on top of him.

"Sawyer," she whispered.

"The doctor said-" he started.

"I don't care," she shook her head. "I don't care what the doctors say Sawyer. I need you. I'm-I need you."

He leaned back up and kissed her again. She lifted her shirt up over her head and he reached up and touched her stomach. Then he quickly pulled his hand away again. She put her hands to her stomach too and then looked at Sawyer with a frown.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Sawyer," she sniffled. He pulled her down into a hug and got out from under her.

"Do you want to go see her?" he asked softly.

"No," she shook her head. "I don't. I can't Sawyer."

"Ok," he nodded. "Then we'll just lay here. Well until 12:30 when Clem gets home."

"Ok," she whispered.

Over the next few days nothing with Kate changed. She stayed in bed all day. Sawyer finally convinced her to come downstairs for dinner, but that was the only meal that she would eat, and right after dinner, she would go directly back up stairs. Sawyer also tried to convince her to go to the hospital to see Rory, but she refused to do that. He had gone twice within the 3 days, but he felt weird going there without Kate. He had met a couple of the other parents in the room, but never spent more than a half an hour at a time there.

Sawyer had just gotten home from going to see one of his clients. Clementine jumped into his arms as soon as he walked through the door.

"Mommy yelled at me," she sobbed. "And said bad words."

Sawyer sighed and hugged her back. He carried her up the stairs and set her down before he got to the bedroom door.

"No!" Clementine yelled. She ran away from the door and down the stairs. Sawyer walked into the room and slammed the door. Kate had been sleeping and she rolled toward the door and murmured.

"What?" she mumbled.

"I heard that you yelled and swore at Clementine," he answered crossing his arms. He walked toward the bed and looked at her seriously. "Kate look…I know you're upset. I'm upset too. But you can't go screaming and swearing at a 5 year old. Clementine doesn't understand why you're upset."

"Does she know that her baby sister is dead?" she asked.

"Dammit Kate!" he screamed and came down to her level. "She's not dead yet! You thinking her of dead isn't going to help things! I'm going downstairs to go take care of my daughter."

He walked down the stairs and looked at Clementine who was standing right at the bottom. She was frowning and Sawyer could only guess that she had heard him yelling.

"You're mad?" Clementine whispered.

"Come here darlin'," he sighed, and picked her up. He carried her into the living room and sat down with Clementine on his lap.

"Ok," he began. "I'm going to try to explain this to you. Did you know that your baby sister is here?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "But how come she's not home then daddy?"

"Well a baby has to stay inside the mommy's tummy for a long time," he continued. "And your baby sister decided that she wanted to come too soon."

"Uh oh," Clementine said. "Is she in trouble then?"

"Well kinda," Sawyer nodded. "The baby is still in the hospital. Remember when you fell and bumped your head, and I had to whisk you to the hospital, and all the doctors and nurses came and took care of you."

"Uh huh," she answered. "It was really scary."

"Yeah, it was," he whispered. "But the doctors helped you a lot right? Well your baby sister is being taken care of."

"I want to make her a get well card!" she exclaimed.

"Ok," he said. She jumped off Sawyer's lap and ran over to the cupboard where they kept all the art supplies. She started coloring and then looked at Sawyer. She brought the card to Sawyer and showed it to him.

"What's her name daddy?" she asked.

"Rory," he whispered.

"Spell please!" she exclaimed, and quickly took the card back from him. She got ready and Sawyer came down on the floor with Clementine.

"Sound it out, Rory," he said. "What do you think it starts with?"

"R?" she asked.

"Very good," he nodded. She wrote an R and then looked back at him.

"Daddy it's too hard," she said.

"Ok," he answered. "R-o-r-y."

Sawyer stood up and saw Kate standing in the doorway. She walked toward him and Clementine. Clementine hid behind Sawyer's legs. Sawyer turned around and picked her up.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry Clementine. I shouldn't have-I'm sorry."

"Daddy can we go see Rory?" Clementine asked.

"When? Right now?" he asked.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed. "I wanna give her the card."

"Clem made Rory a get well card," Sawyer whispered.

"Oh," Kate sniffled and wiped her cheeks. "Can I see?"

Clementine hesitated before giving Kate the card. Kate read the card and smiled at Sawyer. She handed it back to Clementine and stepped toward them. She wrapped her arms around Sawyer and Clementine. Sawyer hugged her back and she felt Clementine's hand pat her on the back.

"I love you mommy," Clementine said softly. "I'm sorry Rory's sick."

"Me too," Kate nodded. "I'm sorry too. Honey I'm sorry I yelled at you. I never-I'm sorry."

"Mommy, you come too," Clementine said. "Come see Rory."

"No," Kate answered. Sawyer set Clementine down and knelt down beside her.

"Clem, why don't you go upstairs and get your shoes and coat on ok?"

"OK," she nodded. Clementine walked out of the room and Sawyer stood back up and looked at Kate.

"Sawyer don't," Kate whispered. "I don't want to come. You can't make me."

"No," he sighed. "I guess I can't. But come on. Don't you want to watch her get stronger? She's already doing better Kate. Yesterday the doctor let me reach in and touch her hand. She's-she still looks-well she looks bad, but she's already getting stronger Kate…and she's our daughter. She needs us. How can you have spent 6 months carrying her, and not want to see her now?"

"Because!" she yelled. "It's just-it's too hard Sawyer. It's-I can't get attached to her."

"Baby," he whispered and stepped toward her. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him. "You already are attached and you know it."

"Yeah," she whispered. "But what if I go and see her every day and she still dies."

"Well," he began. "What if you don't see her every day and you miss out on that time."

"I'm staying here," she answered.

"Daddy!" Clementine yelled from upstairs. "Can I come down yet?!"

"Yes!" he called back. Clementine ran down the stairs and she and Sawyer left the house. Sawyer helped her get into the car and then drove to the hospital. As they walked down the hallway, Sawyer didn't even think that maybe Clementine wouldn't be able to go into the room. He picked up Clementine and walked over to the door.

No one said anything as Sawyer walked toward Rory's bed, carrying Clementine. In fact one of the nurses brought over two chairs.

"Hi Sawyer," one of the moms waved.

"Daddy, who's that?" Clementine whispered.

"Sawyer, thanks for the kind words," a man walked over to him and hugged him. Sawyer patted the man on the back awkwardly. "Jolene told me that you said our daughter is in your thoughts."

"All of these babies are in my thoughts," Sawyer answered. The man nodded, and walked back over to where his wife was standing.

"All these babies are sick too daddy?" she asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "And the mommies and daddies stay here a lot, so I talked to them the last couple days."

"Daddy?" Clementine started. "Can I see Rory and the other babies too?"

Sawyer lifted Clementine up to see the baby. She was scared because of some of the tubes helping Rory breath and eat. She put her face against Sawyer's neck, somewhat similar to what Kate did a few days ago when the baby was first born. He kissed Clementine on the forehead and put her down.

Clementine and Sawyer spent an hour at the hospital. Clementine went around and asked what all the babies' names were. She was planning on making cards for all the babies. Sawyer watched a young mother sitting in her chair, looking at the baby. Sawyer walked over to her and pulled the chair next to her.

"Hi," he mumbled.

"Hi," she whispered. "He's so tiny."

"All the babies in here are," he pointed out the obvious.

"His father isn't here-I wasn't-I didn't think I even wanted a baby," she whispered. "But now I want this."

"What's his name?" he asked.

"Thomas," she replied. "Bastard."

"Not the father," he responded.

"Oh," she whispered. "Aaron. The baby's name is Aaron."

"He's cute," he stated.

"No he's not," she scoffed. "He looks horrible."

"Well, all of the babies in here do," he mumbled. "But he'll get better."

"Thank you," she whispered. "What's your name?"

"Sawyer," he answered.

"I'm Claire," she said with a slight smile.

Sawyer took Clementine back home. When he got there he heard movement upstairs. He went up the stairs and into the bedroom. Kate was sitting on the floor with a bottle of rum. Sawyer sighed deeply and walked over to her. He sat down and gestured to her to hand him the bottle. She reluctantly handed it to him, and he took a swig.

"Hmm," he murmured softly. "What's up Kate?"

"Nothing," she shook her head.

"Is this what happens every time I've been leaving the house lately? You've been drinking your sorrows away?" he asked.

"No," she scoffed.

"Kate, I get it," he replied. "I'm pissed off too. And I'm scared too…but-"

"But nothing," she interrupted. "It's been 3 days Sawyer. 3 days. So come get mad at me when it's been a month or more. Just give me some time."

"Fine," he sighed. "What do you want for dinner?"

"I don't care," she answered.

"Great," he nodded and stood up and walked out of the room.

Almost a week later, Kate still hadn't spent much time out of the room. Sawyer noticed that their liquor cabinet was starting to look sparse. He went up the stairs. Clementine was in her room playing. He sighed to himself as he passed the nursery, which was still empty. He went into the bedroom, and could hear Kate in the bathroom. She was obviously throwing up. He walked into the bathroom and saw her leaning against the toilet. He hesitated before kneeling next to her and holding her hair. She stood up and turned toward him.

"Feeling a little better?" he asked.

"No," she shook her head. "Sawyer-I need you."

"I've been here all along Freckles," he said putting his hands against her cheeks. "I'm not going anywhere."

"No," she sighed. "That's not what I meant."

She stepped toward him and lifted herself up on her toes. She was inches from his lips and he turned his head. He stepped away from her and shook his head.

"Kate," he whispered.

"What?" she asked. "Sawyer I just want you to make me feel better."

"And the only way for me to do that is by having sex with you?" he asked.

"We can be careful," she whispered. "I know you're worried because of what the doctor said…but we can be careful. And there is other things we can do-not just sex."

"I'm going to go check on Clementine," he sighed.

"You told me I was the most important thing in your life," she said.

"You are," he answered. "Kate, dammit you are. I just-I think that you're-you're obviously still upset, you refuse to be a mother to Clementine or Rory-"

"Get out of my way," she mumbled. She pushed past him and went into the bedroom. She opened the drawer where the bottle of liquor was. Sawyer shook his head and gave her a somewhat disgusted look. He left the room and went over to Clementine's room.

"Clem," he whispered. "I'm gonna go across the street really quick. I'll be back in a little bit. Mommy is still here, but I want you to stay in your room."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I don't want you to bug mommy," he answered.

Sawyer left the house and walked across the street. He didn't know if Jack was home, but he thought that if anyone could maybe get through to Kate it would be Jack. He knocked on the door, and then heard footsteps coming to the door. The door opened and a woman was standing there wearing a shirt that was obviously Jack's.

"Sawyer?" she asked.

"Cass?"

**A/N: So please review! I hope ya'll still enjoy my story!**


	10. Chapter 10

Sawyer stared at Cassidy, and she put her arms over her chest, obviously feeling uncomfortable with Sawyer seeing her in just a t-shirt.

"Seen it all before sweetheart," he said somewhat coldly. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I've-I've been seeing Jack," she answered. "He's not home. What are you doing here?"

"I live across the street-"

"You're the asshole who stole Jack's wife?" she asked.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "How 'bout you hear both sides of things before you go accusing me."

"Well she's living with you isn't she?" she asked.

"Whatever Cassidy," he scoffed. "I came to see Jack…can you tell him that I need to talk to him about something important when he gets home."

"There's no way that the two of you are friends," she replied.

"No," he shook his head. "We're not friends, but I know that he still cares about Kate…so can you just please tell him-"

"Yeah," she nodded. Sawyer nodded too and started leaving the front porch. "How is she?"

"You don't even know her, why would you care?" Sawyer asked.

"Not Kate," she scoffed.

"You don't know Clem either Cass," he answered. "You left her in my living room, so I don't know why you care about her either."

"Because she's my daughter," she whispered. "Sawyer, please. I want to see her. She's-I'm sorry-I got scared. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry!?" he yelled. "Clementine had to live the first 5 years of her life without a mother! Kate has become her mom now. And she calls Kate mommy…so I'm not going to confuse her."

"James!" she called, and he started walking back toward his own house. "Please!"

Against his better judgment Sawyer turned back toward Cassidy. She was sitting in a heap on the floor, sobbing. He rolled his eyes slightly and sighed to himself. He walked toward her and she stood up.

"Come on," he mumbled. "But we ain't telling her who you are…not just yet."

"Ok," she whispered.

They walked across the street, and before Sawyer got to the door he sighed deeply.

"She's doing really good Cass," he started. "She loves Kate. Don't-just please don't rock the boat."

They walked into the house, and it seemed too quiet. Sawyer went up the stairs with Cassidy following close behind. Clementine was sitting in her room playing quietly. Sawyer sighed again and went into her room.

"Daddy!" Clementine exclaimed and smiled.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Clem," he started. "There's someone I want you to meet."

"Ok," she replied and walked toward him.

"This is Cassidy," he said.

"Hi," Clementine said softly and turned toward Sawyer.

"She's shy," Sawyer mumbled.

"Hi," Cassidy whispered, and tears came into her eyes. Sawyer heard movement in the hallway and watched Kate walk down the hall to the stairs. He heard her go down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Ok," he sighed. "You met her."

"Can I-" Cassidy started. "Can I come see her tomorrow?"

"We're going to visit her sister tomorrow," he answered. "Cassidy I just told you-I don't want you to rock the boat."

"And I don't-I don't want to confuse her," she whispered. "But Sawyer-"

"But nothing," he shook his head. "I have to go downstairs to see what my fiancé is doing. Come on."

"Fine," she sighed.

She followed Sawyer down the stairs and out the front door. He closed the door and slammed his hand against it.

"Dammit!" he exclaimed.

"What happened?" Kate asked, coming back into the room.

"Cassidy," he whispered.

"What about her?" she questioned.

"She's-" he let out a chuckle. "She's at Jack's house. She and Jack are together. She just met Clementine."

"When?" Kate asked.

"Right now," he answered. "Didn't you-we were just sitting in Clementine's room."

"Sawyer," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

She wrapped her arms around him and he felt like she was actually comforting him. Then she backed away and leaned toward him to kiss him. As soon as their lips touched he could taste the alcohol on her breath, but he didn't care. He wanted to feel better too. She ran her hand down his face and neck and he walked forward, forcing her to walk backward. They walked into the kitchen, and Sawyer lifted her up on to the counter.

"James," she moaned softly. He kissed her lips, and moved down her neck. "I thought you wanted to wait."

"You said there were other things we could do," he whispered. "And-I want you."

She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him closer, still staying on the counter. Sawyer lifted her up and carried her to the stairs. He carried her up the stairs and then set her down. She pulled him with her and went toward the door.

"Clementine," Sawyer said, stopping outside Clementine's door. "You still doing ok?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Ok," he answered. "Me and mommy are gonna go take a nap, so can you play quietly by yourself for a while?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Daddy? Who was that lady?"

"Just-" he started. "I'll tell you a little later, when you're older."

Kate took him by the arm and pulled him into the bedroom. She walked over to the bed and sat down. She pulled her shirt up over her head and he came down to her level.

"Let's get into the shower," she whispered.

"Ok," he said softly. She picked up the bottle of alcohol sitting on her bedside table and took a swig. Sawyer took it from her and drank out of it too. They walked into the bathroom and got into the shower. Sawyer helped Kate wash her hair. They managed to just be in the shower without having sex. Afterward, Sawyer helped Kate out of the shower, and carried her back into their bedroom. He put her in bed and started kissing her again.

"I don't want to see our daughter," she whispered. "Why don't I? Sawyer what's wrong with me?"

"Freckles," he said softly. "You're scared. And that's ok. I mean-you can be scared Kate because I am too. But honey, what if something happens to Rory, and you've only seen her once?"

"I know that," she nodded. "But I still-I still don't want to see her."

"Well," he sighed. "That's something that you'll have to deal with my darlin'."

"Do you hate me?" she asked.

"No!" he exclaimed. "Of course I don't hate you. Why would I hate you? I love you Kate. I love you. If I made you feel like I hated you-I'm sorry."

"You didn't. I just think because I'm drinking," she whispered. "And I yelled at Clementine-I just-I wish that I could stop, but I can't. Drinking is the only way that I can feel better."

"Well that kinda scares me," he said touching her face. "We both had alcoholic dads. We both had crap to deal with. I don't want to see you go down that road."

"I can't stop," she shook her head. "It's like I need it Sawyer. It helps it hurt less."

"Kate," he started. "You're acting like Rory is already dead."

"I feel like she is," she whispered. "I feel so empty without her-she's supposed to be inside me still."

"I know," he replied. "I know."

He touched her face, and ran his hand down her back. She kissed his lips and opened her mouth. He kissed her back and moved closer to her. She moaned softly as their tongues touched.

That night Kate and Sawyer were laying in bed sleeping. Kate was laying against Sawyer's chest. She woke up suddenly, not knowing why, and rolled over away from Sawyer. She looked at the bottle of alcohol sitting on her bedside table. She went into the bathroom with the bottle and sat down on the floor. She started drinking out of the bottle, and then thought about what Sawyer had said earlier. They both had alcoholic dads. She thought about everything that she went through with Wayne. She quickly stood up and threw the bottle in the sink. It shattered. She used the sink to help herself stand up and got pieces of glass stuck in her hand. She heard footsteps from Sawyer walking toward the door.

"Freckles," he whispered. He looked at her hand which was now dripping blood. He gently took her hand and turned it over. He opened the medicine cabinet and took the tweezers out. He started pulling the glass out gently. Each piece of glass, Kate winced. He helped her wrap her hand in gauze, and then put her back into bed.

"Sawyer," she said softly. "I'm sorry."

"Hey," he whispered. "It's ok darlin'. But the bottle is gone now right?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "I want to stop. I want to be a good mom for Clementine…and Rory too."

"Are you gonna go see her tomorrow?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah," she answered. "I'm gonna go to the hospital tomorrow…but I want to go alone."

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "I need to do this. I need to go alone."

"But-" he started.

"I'll be ok," she interrupted.

The next day Sawyer stayed at home with Clementine while Kate went to the hospital. He was sitting in the living room with Clementine, and looked across the street to Jack's house. He couldn't believe that Cassidy was with Jack. He didn't see any cars in the driveway so he didn't think anyone was home. As he stared at the house Cassidy came out of the front door and headed toward their house. Sawyer grumbled softly and looked down at Clementine.

"Clementine go up to your room," he said gently.

"Daddy you promised we could watch Wizard of Oz," she argued. He nodded at her and ignored Cassidy. Cassidy got closer to the door and Sawyer just pretended not to notice.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed. "It's the scary witch part!"

She climbed up onto Sawyer's lap and he held her as she hid her face. He sighed deeply as he heard the doorbell ring. He couldn't pretend that he wasn't home because Cassidy looked into the living room window and saw Sawyer. He sighed softly and put Clementine down on the couch.

"Clementine I'm gonna step right outside, but I'll be right back."

"Ok," she answered. Sawyer opened the door only wide enough for him to fit through and then shut the door again.

"What do you want Cass?" he asked.

"I want to see my daughter," she responded.

"No," he shook his head. "You forced the responsibility of raising that little girl in there on me. I didn't want it at first, but now that I got it...she's my responsibility Cass. And I can't let you inside. Just give it time. You just left her here…no explanation. So no. My job now is to protect that little girl in there…you can't see her."

"You can't keep her from me," Cassidy stated. "She is _my _daughter Sawyer!"

"Really?" he asked. "If she's your daughter then you should know some things about her right? What's her favorite movie?"

"I-I don't know-"

"Ok," he interrupted. "How about her favorite color? Favorite animal? What was the first word she ever said? Don't you think that a mom should know these things?"

"Shut up," she scoffed.

"No…you just show up back in our lives, and want to be a part of her life?" he asked. "No. I can't do it Cass. I won't."

"Well then I'll fight it," she answered.

"You haven't been a part of her life in 5 years," he sighed. "Why are you doing it now?"

"Because I regret it Sawyer," she said, with tears coming into her eyes. "Sawyer I was so scared. I didn't think I was doing a good enough job taking care of her. I thought at least with you she would always have everything she wanted."

"I was a con man Cassidy," he scoffed. "And you wanted our daughter around that? I haven't done much I'm proud of over the last 5 years. But Clementine is the one thing in my life that I have always put above everything else. And I fell in love. For the first time in my entire life. It took me 35 years to find the one person-I love Kate."

"Did you ever love me Sawyer?" she asked.

"Cassidy don't do this," he shook his head.

"Because I loved you," she whispered, stepping toward him. "I loved you so much…I still do. I found-I saw your name in the paper. In the real estate section. I found out that you live here in L.A. I met Jack…and he told me about everything. Yeah…I'm sleeping with him, but it's basically to get closer to you."

She stepped toward him again, and before she could have a chance to try and kiss him, Sawyer put his hands up and stopped her.

"Don't," he said. "Cassidy. Yeah…ok…I cared about you. But-it was never true love. I've been with a lot of women-"

"How romantic," she chuckled. "Does Kate know-"

"Kate knows everything," he interrupted. "Anyway…I've been with a lot of women…but Kate-she's the one. She's the one that I can talk to…that I can love forever. And I will. I don't think I'll ever love anyone the way I love my Freckles."

"Fine," she sighed. "Be with her. But she cheated on Jack…so what makes you think that she won't cheat on you too."

"I trust her," he shrugged. "I don't know why…I've never trusted anyone in my entire life…but I trust her. And I love her. And she's getting better already."

As Sawyer spoke, he watched as a yellow taxi cab pulled up into the driveway. Sawyer furrowed his eyebrows and watched as the cab driver got out and opened the backseat door.

"Thank you!" Kate exclaimed. "I'm sorry!"

The cab driver walked Kate up to the door and looked at Sawyer and Cassidy. Kate was carrying a brown paper shopping bag. Sawyer didn't know what was in the bag, but Kate was holding it like it was something precious.

"That'll be 30 bucks," he said holding out his hand.

"Kate?" he asked.

"Sawyer," Kate slurred. "I didn't-I went to the hospital…but then-Sawyer I don't have any money-I brought money, but it was gone-sorry."

"I'll be right back," Sawyer sighed. He brought Kate into the house and guided her up the stairs. She stumbled badly as he tried to help her climb the stairs. She got into the room and looked at Sawyer, somewhat seductively, and she was still holding on to the paper bag. Sawyer tried taking the bag from her but she held it tighter.

"What's in there?" he asked. She giggled softly and opened the bag for Sawyer to look inside. He looked and there were two different bottles of liquor, a candle, and body oil.

"Hurry back," she whispered.

"Go to bed Kate," he sighed and started leaving the room.

"Hey, give the guy a big tip. I puked in the backseat," she stated.

"Dammit."

Sawyer went back downstairs with his wallet and handed the guy a 50.

"She told me that she puked in your cab," Sawyer said.

"No…she told me to pull over so she could puke," he answered. "The bartender said she drank 8 shots, in a half hour. That's a lot for such a little woman. Is she-"

"She'll be fine," Sawyer mumbled.

"Daddy," Clementine said coming to the door and peeking her head out. "Daddy, mommy told me to go away."

"Sawyer," Cassidy started. "Let me take her. You take care of Kate…you can come get Clementine tonight. You don't want Clementine to see Kate this way."

"No," he scoffed.

"You need to take care of Kate," she responded.

"Don't say anything to her," Sawyer warned her. "I'm going to tell her eventually, but I want to be the one to tell her. And you're staying here?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Clementine is comfortable here. And she's watching a movie so just stay here...you can watch the movie with her."

"What movie?" Cassidy smiled, and looked at Clementine.

"Wizard of Oz," Clementine whispered and hid behind Swyer.

"Great," she smiled. "I love The Wizard of Oz."

They went back into the house. Sawyer put Clementine on the couch and covered her with a blanket. Clementine smiled up at him and he kissed her on the cheek.

"Love you to the stars," he whispered.

"I love you too daddy," she said.

"You're so good with her," Cassidy whispered.

"Now I'm going upstairs to see what's up with Kate," he sighed.

He went up the stairs and into the bedroom. He opened the bedroom door and saw Kate sitting on the floor, looking at a picture and drinking the bottle of vodka. Sawyer sighed and walked toward her. He sat down next to her and looked at her.

"They let me hold her," she whispered. He looked at the picture. It was a Polaroid of Kate, holding the baby. She fit in Kate's hands. "Sawyer, she's too little. And that other baby-that baby next to Rory…he died."

"Kate," he sighed. "That doesn't mean that Rory is going to die."

"I just can't help but think-I mean Sawyer, this is exactly why I didn't want to go see her," she frowned.

"What did you buy the candle and body oil for?" he asked.

"So we could stop thinking about Rory," she half smiled and took another drink.

"Ok," he sighed. "Enough of that for you. You've had enough."

"It's never enough," she whispered and leaned against Sawyer's shoulder. He sighed softly and wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed her back and rocked her slowly.

He stayed in the room with Kate for over an hour. Neither of them said anything. Kate just laid against Sawyer's chest, and he kept his arms around her. Sawyer helped Kate to the bathroom, and held her hair as she threw up again.

"I'm gonna take a shower," she whispered.

"Do you want help?" he asked.

"Well yes," she smiled. "But go on and check on Clementine."

Sawyer stood up and so did Kate. He walked toward the door, but Kate, took him by the hand and pulled him back toward her. She wrapped her arms around him and they stood their embraced for a moment. Sawyer kissed Kate on the cheek and then walked away. He went down the stairs, and heard the ending of The Wizard of Oz.

_If I ever go looking for my hearts desire again, I'll know never to look any farther than my own backyard. Oh Auntie Em, there's no place like home!_

Sawyer smiled and walked into the living room. He walked around the couch and found Clementine's blaket long forgotten on the couch. Both Cassidy and Clementine were gone.

**A/N: So I hope you liked it. :). Pleaase Review!!**


	11. Chapter 11

Kate and Sawyer were sitting in the living room listening to the officer talk. Sawyer looked pretty much catatonic. Kate reached over and took his hand in hers.

"It's ok," she whispered.

"How! How is it ok Kate," he said. "What-what am I supposed to do! I have a baby who's going to die, my fiancé has become a drunk, and my ex just kidnapped my daughter."

"I'm not a drunk," Kate replied looking at him.

"Really?" he asked. "Whatever Kate…I don't want your input, so why don't you go open another bottle of liquor and stay away from me?"

Kate stood up from the couch and went up the stairs. Sawyer sighed deeply and ran his hands through his hair.

"Ok," Sawyer whispered. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"Sir, we've put out an Amber Alert on Clementine," he answered. "I know that it's hard, but really the only thing to do is to wait."

"Wait for what?" Sawyer scoffed. "Wait for them to tell me that her mom has her? I don't know what to do."

"We're going to do everything we can to find your daughter sir," he responded.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

The officer left the house and Sawyer went back up the stairs. He went into the bedroom and Kate was sitting on the bed. She looked up at Sawyer and frowned.

"I know," she sighed. "I know I haven't exactly been a ball of fun lately Sawyer, but-it's the only way I can deal with it. I'm-I love Clementine…you know I do. But it's a little different that Rory is my own daughter. And so I'm scared of losing her."

"Well while you've been scared of losing our baby, I just lost mine," he replied, sitting down next to her.

"Sawyer, I'm sorry," she shook her head. "You know that I want to get Clementine back too. You have a right to be mad at me Sawyer, but don't call me a drunk."

"I'm sorry too," he mumbled. The phone rang and Sawyer quickly answered it.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Daddy?" Clementine said.

"Clem!" he exclaimed. "Clem, where are you?"

"Daddy I'm ok," she stated. "But I gotta go."

"No! Clementine!" he yelled, and Clementine hung up the phone. Sawyer looked at the phone in his hand and then looked at Kate who was looking at him curiously. He looked at the phone again and then threw it across the room. It hit the wall and broke into 5 pieces. Sawyer stood up and walked over to Kate's bedside table. He opened the drawer and saw the bottle of liquor that Kate had just bought. Kate stood up slightly to see what he was doing. He took the bottle and started drinking. Kate stood up and tried to take the bottle from him, but he pulled it away from her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"If you get to drown your sorrows in liquor then so do I," he answered.

"Clementine needs you to stay strong," she whispered.

"Clementine is gone!" he yelled. "Cassidy took her! And she's gone! You know what…I'm gonna call your ex-husband…maybe he knows a little something."

"Sawyer, no," she shook her head. "Jack wouldn't do that. Jack wouldn't-"

"Well let's just see, shall we?" he asked. He ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Kate followed him quickly. Sawyer started dialing the number and Kate took the phone from him.

"Sawyer, do you have any idea what you're even going to say?" she questioned.

"Yeah," he nodded. "How about, where the hell is my daughter?"

"Sawyer, you can't just accuse him," she answered.

"Why not?" he mumbled. Kate took the phone from Sawyer and started dialing the phone.

"Jack?" she asked. "Hey, it's me. I-um-I have sort of a weird question for you."

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"Listen, no one is accusing you," she sighed. "Today Cassidy came over here…she was sitting downstairs with Clementine because Sawyer was taking care of me. Anyway…Sawyer came went back downstairs, and they were both gone."

"You think I helped her?" he asked. "I didn't."

"I know," she whispered. "But Sawyer-"

"Thinks that I could take a little girl from her family?" he interrupted. "You know me Kate. You know damn well I'd never do that."

"I know," she answered. "I just thought-"

"You know me better than that Kate," he stated. "Is there anything you want me to do?"

"No," she replied. "Thanks Jack...oh, actually. if you hear from Cassidy…please, call us. Try and find out where she is."

"Yeah," he mumbled. "I will, Kate."

Kate hung up the phone and looked at Sawyer. He scoffed and walked out of the room, and walked into the living room. He was still holding on to the bottle of liquor, tightly. When she went into the living room, she saw him kick Clementine's Barbie dream house over. She saw a couple pieces of plastic fly off if it. He went over to the TV and took the DVD out of the DVD player. He threw that across the room, and Kate saw it slide across the floor and under the couch. He sat down on the couch and opened the bottle of vodka. He drank from the bottle and Kate sat down next to him.

"Sawyer-" she started.

"What?" he scoffed. "You gonna tell me to calm down Kate? Tell me that everything is going to be ok? Tell me that Clementine will be just fine?"

"Y'know what Sawyer," she shrugged. "Anything I say is just gonna piss you off…so maybe I should just tell you everything will be alright, because that's all you seem to be able to say about our daughter who's clinging to life!"

"Screw you Kate," he scoffed.

"Yeah?" she asked. "Screw me! Screw you!"

He pulled her toward him and kissed her passionately. She kissed him back just as passionately and jumped up into his arms. He stumbled up the steps, still carrying her. They went into the bedroom and tore each other's clothes off.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Me too," he answered, crawling over her body. "I love you Kate. We gotta-we have to be together in all this. We can't lose each other."

"Then we won't," she said. "I love you too Sawyer."

He kissed her again, and she wrapped her arms around him. Kate sighed softly and ran her hands down his back.

"I want to have another baby," she said softly.

"We will darlin'," he whispered, and then rolled off of her, but pulled her closer to him. "Freckles, I think we just need-we need each other. We don't need another baby. I mean-I know you want one, and I just don't want to fight anymore."

"Me neither," she shook her head. He pulled her closer and kissed her. The phone ran and Kate moaned softly. "No…don't answer it James."

"What if it's the police? Or Clementine?" he asked. He reached over and picked up the phone.

"Sawyer?" Cassidy sobbed before he could even say anything. "Sawyer I'm sorry. I didn't-I don't know what to do. I didn't know."

"What the hell are you talking about Cassidy?" he questioned.

"We're at the hospital," she whispered. "She didn't tell me-"

"What did you do?" he interrupted.

"I gave her-" she started

"Chocolate," Sawyer interrupted.

"Who the hell is allergic to chocolate anyway?" she asked.

"Our daughter," he scoffed. "That's who."

"Well I know that now," she sighed. "I just-she was upset because she wanted to go back home, and I gave her a piece of chocolate."

"She knows she can't have chocolate," Sawyer replied. "What did you say?"

"I told her that if she ate the chocolate I would call you," she answered. "And I swear I was going to, but then she started choking and she stopped breathing."

"Well is she alright?!" he yelled.

"She was asking for her mommy and daddy," she whispered. "Sawyer I'm so sorry. I never should have taken her from me, but you-"

Sawyer hung up the phone and started getting redressed, without explaining anything to Kate. Kate looked at him somewhat confused and started getting dressed too.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Didn't you get enough information from my end of the conversation?" he asked. "Cassidy gave Clementine chocolate to shut her up."

"Is she ok?" she asked.

"She was asking for us."

* * *

Sawyer and Kate ran down the hall, and Sawyer saw Cassidy. He ran past her, she tried talking to him, but he ignored her. He rushed to Clementine's bedside. She was awake and gasped when she saw Sawyer.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed. He sat down next to her and she flung her arms around him. "Daddy, I was so scared, and I couldn't breathe."

"Clem," he whispered.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked.

"No," he said stroking her hair. "Of course I ain't mad. I was scared. You know you're not allowed to have chocolate."

"I know, but I wanted to call you, and she said that if I shut up and ate the chocolate she would let me call you."

"Dammit," he whispered.

"Daddy, who is she?" she asked.

"I have to tell you something ok baby?"

"Mommy!" she exclaimed, as Kate came into the room. She went to Clementine's other side and sat down.

"I was gonna tell her-" Sawyer started.

"You want me to leave?" she asked softly.

"No," he said, reaching across Clementine's bed to take Kate's hands. "You can stay Freckles. Sweetheart…Clementine. You know that Kate loves you very very much right?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"But you also know that Kate isn't really your mommy," he replied.

"I know daddy," Clementine sighed. "She's my mommy now, but not before."

"Yeah," he whispered.

"Is that why that lady kept saying she was my mommy?" Clementine asked. "Is that lady my mommy?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "She is baby."

"Why doesn't she want me?" Clementine frowned.

"Well," Sawyer sighed and looked up at Kate.

"Sometimes," Kate began. "Grownups get scared, just like kids. Grownups sometimes get so scared, that they have to leave so that they're not scared anymore. And your mom…she knew that your daddy would be the best best daddy ever."

"But the other kids have a mommy and a daddy," she answered.

"I know," Kate whispered. "But hey…now you have a mommy too. I'm not going anywhere Clementine."

"Ok," Clementine whispered. "I'm sleepy."

Sawyer looked up at the nurse who was just coming into the room.

"Is that normal?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "We gave her some medicine to make her sleepy because she was really scared when she couldn't breathe. Obviously so...but when she couldn't breathe she started having a panic attack, so we gave her something to calm her down. Mr. Ford, the woman-the woman who brought her in is sitting outside. She's waiting for you, said she needed to talk to you."

"K," he whispered. "Clem, mommy will stay with you, and I'm gonna go talk to Cassidy."

"Daddy?" she asked. "Do I gotta call Cassidy mommy now?"

"No way," Kate shook her head.

Sawyer smiled softly at Kate, and got up. He went out the door and looked down at Cassidy. Cassidy opened her mouth to talk, but Sawyer put a hand up to stop her.

"No," he interrupted. "I get to go first. 5 years ago…you came to my house. You came and told me that I had a daughter. You wanted me to meet her…that's all…or so you claimed. You just wanted me to see my daughter. As soon as I saw her I knew…she was gorgeous…a spitting image of me."

"Sawyer," she chuckled.

"Not done," he scoffed, giving her a glare. "You crawled out of my bathroom window. You just left her there. I had no clue what I was doing. I had no idea how to be a father…I hadn't changed a diaper a day in my life. You left her. How could you just leave your baby? I mean-I never knew that I wanted to be a father Cassidy, so I guess I'm glad that you gave me a chance to be a dad and learn how to love being a dad. But how the hell do you have the audacity to come into my home and steal my daughter?"

"Sawyer," she sniffled. "I'm sorry. I didn't-I wanted to-I just wanted to see my daughter-"

"I already talked to you about that back at my house," he shook his head. "She ain't your daughter anymore."

"I know," she nodded. "I realize it now. I'm-I'm sorry. Sawyer I'm not going to try and take her again…she's yours. She's yours."

"Thanks," he murmured. "You're gonna leave Jack's house?"

"No," she shook her head. "Sawyer…I know that-I used Jack to get to you and Clementine. But I've only been there a month. I've just been-y'know in hiding kinda…but anyway. We've-we're together…and I think I love him. I don't want to hurt him. I'm going to tell him everything tonight and hope that he forgives me. Sawyer I love-I love him. I don't want to leave him. But I'll leave you alone."

"You can see her," he murmured. "Once a week for 1 hour."

"What?" she asked.

"She knows Kate ain't her momma," he sighed. "She deserves to see her real momma…'specially if you're gonna be livin' right across the street."

"Sawyer," she whispered. "I don't know how to thank you."

"Don't take my daughter from me again…and just so you know…Clementine will be calling Kate mommy, you will be Cassidy."

"Ok," she nodded.

Sawyer got up and went back into the room. Clementine had fallen asleep and Kate was holding her hand. Kate looked up at Sawyer and shook her head.

"It's been a long day," she whispered. "She's been through a lot."

"Yeah," he answered.

"Sawyer I'm so sorry," she shook her head. "If I hadn't-if I hadn't come home drunk, you never would have come upstairs with me, and she never would have had the chance to-"

"Shh," he whispered. "Kate-I did something, and you're probably not going to lick it."

"What?" she asked, swallowing hard.

"I told Cassidy that she could see Clementine once a week."

"Why?" she asked with a soft scoff.

"Because even though she's a bitch and she abandoned Clem…I can't imagine my life without Clementine in my life, so-" he shrugged. "I just-I don't want Clementine thinking that it's her fault that Cassidy isn't in her life. Cassidy is staying with Jack…she's gonna be just across the street. I don't-"

"Do you have any idea how amazing you are?" she asked.

"Kinda," he smirked. "Now lets take our daughter home."

"I wish we could take both our daughters home," she whispered and leaned against his shoulder.

**A/N: OK…so I hope that you liked it. Please review!!**


	12. Chapter 12

Kate and Sawyer were laying in bed together. Kate was sleeping, but Sawyer was laying awake, staring at her. He reached over and touched her face softly. She shifted slightly, but didn't wake up. He moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. Kate wrapped her arms around him too, and snuggled against him, then fell right back to sleep. He stroked her hair and closed his own eyes to try and fall asleep. He didn't sleep most of the night.

When Kate woke up Sawyer was sleeping. She knew that he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before so she carefully climbed out of bed without waking him. She went into Clementine's room and helped her get ready for school. She watched as Clementine ate breakfast.

"Guess what Kate!" Clementine exclaimed.

"What?" she asked.

"10 times 10 is 100," she said.

"Very good," Kate nodded. "How do you know that?"

"My teacher told me," she answered.

"Oh," Kate chuckled. "How silly of me."

Kate put Clementine on the bus and went back into the living room. She didn't want to wake up Sawyer just yet. She thought about the day before. She felt guilty for drinking and felt like it was partly her fault that Clementine was taken. But at the same time, she sort of wanted a drink. Just as she stood up to go into the kitchen the phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hi, is Mrs. Ford available," the woman on the other end said.

"Well, I'm Mr. Ford's fiancé, I'm not a Ford yet," she responded.

"Is your daughter Rory Ford?" she asked.

"Y-yes," Kate stuttered. "Is something wrong?"

"Ma'am, she has to go in for emergency surgery," the woman replied. "I'm sorry to be telling you over the phone like this, but we have to get your consent, and since it's an emergency, she has to go in for surgery now…so we wanted to know if you could come down and sign some papers."

"Well," Kate began. "Are you taking her in as soon as I sign he papers?"

"Actually we have to take her in now, I need verbal consent," she stated. "And then you'll sign some papers when you get here."

"Ok," she sniffled. "Well what kind of surgery is this?"

"Surgery on her lungs," she responded.

"Ok," Kate nodded. "Um…I give you consent. I'll be there in about 20 minutes."

She hung up the phone and went up the stairs. She went over to Sawyer's side of the bed, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Sawyer I gotta go to the hospital," she whispered. "They're taking Rory in for surgery."

"I'm up," he mumbled, and rolled out of bed. "Let's go."

"You gonna wear that?" she asked. He looked down and noticed that he was wearing only his boxers, not only that, but they an old tattered pair. Sawyer cocked his head started getting dressed in the same clothes that he was wearing the day before.

Sawyer and Kate waited at the hospital while the baby went in for surgery. Kate was leaning against Sawyer's shoulder. He put his arm around her and looked down at her.

"What's gonna happen Sawyer?" she whispered.

"They're going to fix her," he answered. "I can promise you that."

"Don't," she shook her head.

"Hey, you asked," he shrugged.

"I know," she sighed. "I know."

"Mr. and Mrs. Ford?" the nurse said. Kate and Sawyer both stood up and walked toward the nurse. "Your daughter is out of surgery. But she's in the intensive care unit."

"We want to see her," Sawyer said.

"I don't," Kate shook her head. "I saw her yesterday and she looked awful…today if I see her, she's just going to look 10 times worse. I can't see her like that Sawyer."

"Ok," he whispered. "Well, then I want to see her."

* * *

The drive home was quiet. Kate and Sawyer had called Charlotte and arranged for her to get Clementine off the bus. When they got home, Kate went into the kitchen and Sawyer could hear things slamming around. He sighed and went up the stairs to find Clementine and Charlotte.

"Hi daddy," Clementine smiled looking up at him.

"Is everything-" Charlotte began, and then stopped when she saw the look on Sawyer's face. He shook his head and knelt next to Clementine. Sawyer heard something downstairs fall to the floor and break. He sighed and kissed Clementine on the forehead.

"I'm gonna go downstairs Clem, you stay up here with Lottie," he whispered.

Sawyer left the room and went back downstairs. He heard Kate crying softly, and trying to catch her breath. He sighed to himself and walked into the kitchen. She was sitting on the floor with the bottle of liquor. He saw the remains of a plate scattered on the floor. He bent down and realized that it was his plate. The one that he had made with his hand print and initials on it. He had made the plate with his mom, and Kate knew how much it meant to him.

"Sawyer I'm sorry," she whispered. He started picking up the pieces. He put the broken pieces on the counter and looked down at Kate. He shook his head and grabbed on to the counter. Kate continued to drink out of the bottle and Sawyer looked down at her and scoffed. She let out a soft sob, but didn't let go of the bottle of liquor.

"I didn't-" she started.

"You broke my plate," he mumbled. "How?"

"I was trying to get a shot glass, and I knocked it out of the cupboard," she answered.

"So you just thought you'd leave the pieces of my mother's plate on the floor?"

"Sawyer, I'm sorry," she sniffled.

"You're really going back to this?" he asked, pointing at the bottle. "After everything?"

"I can't-" she whispered. "It hurts too much Sawyer."

"Don't you think that it hurts me too?" he asked, sitting down next to her. "You're not the only one dealing with this crap right now Kate. And I know-I know that the alcohol makes you feel better, or whatever lame ass excuse you want to use. Give me the damn bottle."

"No," she scoffed.

"Give it to me!" he screamed.

"No!" she screamed back and got up. She ran up the stairs and Sawyer heard the bedroom door slam. He put his head down and sighed deeply. He felt someone standing over him. Charlotte was standing in front of him.

"Where's Clementine?" he asked.

"She's in her room," Charlotte said. "You ok Mr. Ford."

"Charlotte how many times do I gotta tell you…call me Sawyer," he chuckled, standing up.

"How many times to I have to tell you to call me Lottie?" she asked with a smile. "Is Rory alright?"

"No," he shook his head. "I have no idea what the hell we're supposed to do. And Kate-"

"Maybe you should just let her drink," she shrugged. "I mean-I don't want to but in-but-when my mum, when I was about 12, my mum's parents were both killed in a car accident. She was depressed for months. My stepdad gave her everything she wanted, and it did seem to help."

"Well, did your mom drink?" he asked.

"Well, no," she answered.

"You don't know what it's like to live with a drunk," he responded. "Both me and Kate know-I don't want Clementine growing up with that."

"Ok," Charlotte nodded. "Fair enough. You ok Sawyer? I mean-seems like you've been so busy worrying about Kate and Clementine…no one's worrying about you."

"I'm fine," he stated.

"Do you need a hug?" she asked with a smile. "My boyfriend says I give the best hugs he's ever had."

Before Sawyer could give her a straight answer she stepped toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He hugged her back and put his head against her shoulder. He could feel the tears making their way into his eyes and backed away. He wiped his eyes, hoping that Charlotte wouldn't see.

"You're boyfriend is right," he sighed. "Best hug I've gotten in a long time."

"Do you want me to take Clementine tonight?" she asked. "My parents are gone for the weekend, and Dan is coming over."

"Dan?" he asked.

"Boyfriend," she answered. "I mean, if you don't feel comfortable with me having a boy over then I'll-"

"Charlotte," he chuckled. "This is me we're talking about. As long as you don't completely ignore her, I don't care what you do. And no…I want to keep my little girl here tonight."

"Ok," she nodded. "Sawyer, everything will work out the way it's supposed to. I know that me saying that isn't going to help bring Rory home faster, but-I have faith that things will work out…for all of you."

"Thanks," he murmured. "It does help Lottie. I'll talk to ya later."

"Any time you need well anything…babysitter, or just someone to talk to," she responded.

"Thanks," he whispered.

Charlotte left and Sawyer went up the stairs. Clementine was still sitting on her floor playing. Sawyer went into the bedroom and sat down next to her.

"You wanna?" she asked.

"Yeah," he whispered. "Ok."

Clementine and Sawyer played games in her bedroom the rest of the afternoon, until it was time for dinner. Sawyer went downstairs and made macaroni for Clementine. She was eating and Sawyer, decided to take a bowl up to Kate. He walked up the stairs and went into the bedroom. Kate was in bed under the covers. The comforter was pulled over her head. Sawyer put the bowl of macaroni on the bedside table and sat down.

"You hungry?" he asked. Kate didn't move. He uncovered her and looked down at her. She rolled over and pulled the covers back over her head. "Fine. If you want it I'll just leave it here on the end table."

He got up and headed to the door. He heard a soft sob coming from the bed and sighed. He hated that she could get him to stay just by crying, but he didn't want to leave her alone. He went back over to the bed and knelt next to it. He uncovered her again and her hands were covering her face. He pulled her arms down and looked at her.

"What do you want me to do Kate?" he asked. "I'm doing my best here."

"Will you sit here with me?" she whispered.

"Yeah," he sighed. He got back on to the bed and sat down next to her. Kate moved over and put her head in his lap. They were sitting like that for only a few minutes when Kate sat back up. Sawyer thought maybe she was about to get sick, but instead she reached for her bottle of liquor. She drank out of it and then offered it to Sawyer. He shook his head, and sighed.

"I'm gonna go check on Clementine," he mumbled.

"Wait," she whispered. She put the bottle down and crawled onto Sawyer's lap. She rubbed against him and kissed his lips. He bent his head back to take a breath, and was going to push her away, but she quickly unbuckled his belt and pulled it out of the loops. She kissed his neck and moved down his chest.

"Fre-" he started, but she stopped him, by pressing her lips to his. She pulled his shirt off, and then pulled her own shirt off.

"I want another baby," she whispered.

"Kate, it's only been 3 weeks," he said stroking her hair softly. "What happened to the whole, we can do other things? I mean-I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't," she replied, sniffling and beginning to unbutton her pants. "I'm-I'm drunk, and horny…don't you want to take advantage of that? And plus, nothing like taking advantage of a drunk, horny girl, who's also in need of comfort."

"Kate," he began. "I don't know how it's taking advantage of, when I'm engaged to you. Come on-why don't you eat some macaroni."

"Because I'm not hungry," she whispered. "But I'm hungry for love."

"Kate," he shook his head.

"Please," she said, with a moan. "Please just-kiss me."

Sawyer leaned forward and kissed her lips. She tasted like the booze she had been drinking. He ran his hand down her body. He pushed her jeans down and she moaned softly.

"I want you," she said, moving her face to his ear and kissing his neck.

"Daddy," Clementine said and Sawyer, quickly moved from underneath Kate. Kate continued to try and kiss him, but he moved away again.

"Knock it off Kate," he stated, pushing her away. "What is it Clem?"

"I'm all done with dinner," she replied. Kate moved over to the side of the bed and fell on to the floor. She chuckled to herself, and reached up for the bottle.

"Is mommy ok?" Clementine asked.

"Yeah," he whispered. "Come on."

He got out of the bed, and Kate climbed back into bed. He put his shirt back on and buttoned his pants. He wasn't sure how much Clementine saw, but Kate was almost completely naked, and when she climbed back into bed she pulled her pants off the rest of the way and tossed them on the floor. Sawyer lead Clementine out of the room and into her own room.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I'm sorry about your mommy. She's ok…she's just not feeling good right now."

"Is she sad daddy?" she asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "She's sad. But she's gonna get better. I promise. We'll help her get better."

"Ok," she replied. "I'll go to my room."

She frowned and started walking away. Sawyer quickly went after her and picked her up. He blew a raspberry on her neck and she giggled.

"What do you want to do?" he asked. "We can do anything."

"I want to play with my Barbies!" she exclaimed.

Sawyer played with Clementine, and then helped her get ready for bed. He didn't hear even a peep coming from the bedroom, which sort of made him nervous, but he didn't really think much of it. He hugged and kissed Clementine goodnight and then went into the bedroom. Kate was still in bed. Sawyer noticed that the bottle of liquor was much more empty. He sighed to himself and sat down on the bed next to her.

"Sawyer," she whispered.

"Yeah," he murmured.

"I missed you," she moaned and put her head in his lap. She was almost completely naked except for her underwear. She looked up at him with a slight smile, and then started working at his pants once again.

"Well Kate, I miss you," he said. "I miss you."

"Why?" she asked. "I'm right here. I told you that I wasn't going anywhere. I'm not going back to Jack…and I'm right here."

She sat up and looked at him. He looked over at her and sighed softly. He ran his hand over her arm and then laid down.

"I'm going to bed," he murmured. "Goodnight."

She laid down too and wrapped her arms around him. She started kissing his chest and then moaned loudly.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Come on," she whispered. "Why is it that you're always in the mood, and the one night I'm in the mood, you can't give me at least a little something."

"Kate, I really haven't been in the mood," he shook his head. "So I don't know what you're talking about. But I don't want to have sex with a drunk girl."

"Drunk sex is ok, when the drunk girl happens to be your fiancé," she answered.

"What about when that drunk girl just had a baby?" he asked.

"I told you," she whispered. "I just talked to the doctor today…she said that with Rory's size, I should be fine. She said she wanted to examine me, but that it should be fine."

"Should be," he repeated. "That doesn't mean-"

She took his hand in hers and put it against her chest. She leaned forward and kissed him. She pushed his shirt up and over his head and then started working at his pants. He scooted out of them and then rolled over on top of her. She had tears forming in her eyes, but continued to kiss him till neither of them could breathe. Sawyer pulled Kate's underwear off and hovered over her. She breathed in deeply and then moaned softly. Sawyer wiped the tears from Kate's eyes, which didn't matter much, because more formed. He kissed her mouth and they made love.

Kate fell asleep quickly. Not so much fell asleep as passed out. Sawyer took the bottle of alcohol from Kate's bedside table and carried it into the bathroom. He knew that there was really no point on dumping it out considering she could just go buy another bottle tomorrow. Instead he poured some of it into her cup that she brushes her teeth with and then came back to bed. He laid down and groaned loudly, hoping that it would wake Kate up. She didn't move. He put his hand against her mouth to see if she was still breathing. She was and he rolled over away from her and fell asleep.

**A/N: I'm glad people are pleased with my updates. I'm really not that lame as not having a life, but I just stay up late every night anyway , so I just decide to write during those times. Most of the time I'm multi tasking…writing, and watching TV, or a movie or something. I hope you all enjoy it. :). Please review!!**


	13. Chapter 13

Sawyer woke up in the morning, and this time he let Kate sleep in. He was sitting in the office doing his paper work. He almost wanted to start working out side of the house to get away from Kate. He knew that she obviously had a problem, but she also obviously didn't want any help over coming it. Sawyer had done everything in his power to make her feel better about Rory, but nothing helped. Sawyer was drinking a cup of coffee. The numbers in the computer made no sense.

"Morning," Kate said from behind him. Sawyer jumped, and then turned around to face her.

"Hey," he sighed.

"Um, did we-" she started. "Did we have sex last night?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Don't you remember?"

"No," she shook her head. "I'm just kinda sore."

"I told you," he mumbled, and turned back to the computer.

"What's wrong?" she asked, turning his chair again and sitting on his lap. "You're all grumpy. I thought sex was supposed to-"

"I'm working," he interrupted.

"What's the matter?" she scoffed, backing away, but staying on his lap.

"You don't remember having sex last night," he answered. "Don't you see even the slightest bit of a problem with that Kate?"

"No," she shrugged. "I was drunk…did you expect me to remember?"

"Dammit Kate exactly!" he exclaimed. "You were drunk…again!"

"Look I'm sorry if my pathetic life is too much for you to handle!" she yelled.

"Kate," he sighed, and touched her face softly. "Baby…I'm just worried about you. You're upset…I know. And believe me I get it. I'm upset too. And I'm scared too…but darlin'. You need help."

"Help with what?" she asked.

"You need to stop drinking," he stated.

"I can stop whenever I want to," she answered. "But-I don't want to."

"Why not?" he asked. "Not even for me? For Rory?"

"No!" she exclaimed and then stood up off his lap. "You don't get to make me feel guilty for how I'm dealing with this!"

"Fine," he sighed. "If you want to go get drunk, go ahead. I have some work to do."

"You're just like him," she shook her head. "You care more about your work than me."

"You know what," he began. "You're right. As of right now…yeah…I do care more about my work, than you."

**2 Weeks Later**

Sawyer continued to try and get Kate to stop drinking, but she refused. He started ignoring her more, which only seemed to piss her off and make her drink more, but he stopped caring. He still worked from home, but spent a lot of time in his office.

The phone rang, and Kate was upstairs sleeping, so Sawyer picked it up.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Mr. Ford?" the voice said.

"Yeah," he replied.

"You should come down her as soon as possible," the woman stated.

"I'm sorry, who is this?" he asked.

"Oh, no I'm sorry Mr. Ford," she said taking a deep breath. "This is Johanna Keeting…I'm one of the nurses in the premature nursery at the hospital. You're daughter-"

"I'll be right there," he interrupted and then hung up the phone. He went up the stairs and over to Kate's bed.

"Kate!" he exclaimed. "It's Rory. Get up!"

"No," she moaned. "I'm too tired."

"Dammit Kate, get your ass out of bed!" he yelled.

"No," she answered.

"Fine…be that way," he scoffed. "But if our daughter dies Kate…it's on you."

"Don't you dare blame this on me!" she exclaimed. "I'm the one who wanted to stay pregnant."

"Kate shut up!" he screamed.

Sawyer left the room, and went down stairs. He drove to the hospital, and went to the hospital room where Rory was. Sawyer greeted a couple of the other parents, who nodded at him. He walked over to Rory's bed, and she was gone. He frantically looked around the room.

"Where is she?" he asked. The nurse walked over to him and gave him a smile.

"We just moved her," she answered with a smile. "She's gained enough weight now. She's in the regular nursery."

"What?" he asked with a smile.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Does that mean we can take her home soon?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Probably one more week, just to make sure that everything is ok. But her heart sounds good, and her lungs too. You wanna go see her?"

"Yeah," he answered. "But first lemme go call my fiancé."

He walked outside the hospital and dialed home. It rang and rang and rang. Sawyer remembered how he threw the phone across the room 3 weeks ago. They never got a new phone in their bedroom, so Sawyer was sure no one would answer.

"You have reached the Ford's, please leave a message," Clementine's voice said.

"Hey," Sawyer said softly. "Kate, I'm sorry I got mad at you. I'm just calling to let you know that Rory is doing great. They moved her o the regular nursery. She can come home soon. The doc said a week. Ok talk to you later."

Sawyer sighed to himself and hung up the phone. Then he opened the phone again and dialed Charlotte's number. It was almost time for Clementine to get home, and he wanted someone sober, and awake to take Clementine off the bus. He had been calling her more and more frequently in the last 2 weeks. She came over to spend the time with Clementine, but they had also spent some time together…just talking. Charlotte insisted that he needed to talk to someone about Kate.

"Hello?" Charlotte said. "Mr. Ford?"

"Charlotte," he chuckled.

"I know," she laughed back. "'Call me Sawyer'. How are you Sawyer? Is everything ok?"

"Yeah," he answered. "Actually more than ok. Rory…she can come home in a week."

"A week?!" she exclaimed. "That's awesome! I'm so excited for you."

"Thanks," he chuckled. "Anyway, I'm at the hospital. I'm not gonna be home in time to get Clem off the bus."

"Oh is Kate with you?" she asked.

"No," he mumbled.

"Sawyer," she whispered. "Is she-"

"Where the hell do you think she is Charlotte?" he asked.

"Lottie," she corrected him.

"Anyway, with Kate drunk…I just don't want her around Clementine," he sighed.

"No problem Sawyer," she replied. "I'll talk to you when you get home. I really think that you really just need someone to talk to. Someone who's not drunk."

"Thanks," he chuckled. "But I'm too happy to talk about anything like that. I just want to go hold my daughter."

"Go hold her then," Charlotte answered.

Sawyer went to the nursery and looked in on the babies. He didn't see Rory right away, but then he did. He walked into the nursery and over to the bed.

"Sir you can't be in here," a nurse said softly.

"It's my daughter," he whispered. "She's here now."

"It's ok Lana," a second nurse said. "His daughter just moved here."

"Can I hold her?" he asked.

"Yeah," she smiled.

The baby was bigger than the last time Sawyer saw her. She was still much smaller than most of the other babies, but she looked bigger, and was more pink and healthy looking. He looked down at her and smiled.

"Hi," he whispered. "Hi Rory. Hi baby."

Sawyer stayed at the hospital for a little while, and then went home. He came through the front door, and Charlotte was sitting on the floor with Clementine. They were watching The Wizard of Oz, and playing with some of Clementine's toys.

"Hey baby," he whispered. "How are you?"

"Good," she said. "Daddy should I go upstairs now?"

"Guess what?" he asked. "Your baby sister gets to come home soon."

"Yay! Is she all better now daddy?" she asked.

"Well, not all better," he replied. "But she's doing ok now."

He sat down on the floor and pulled Clementine on to his lap. Charlotte looked at Sawyer and smiled widely.

"I can't believe that she's ok."

"Me neither," he shook his head. "I-has Kate made an appearance?"

"No," she answered. "I'm sorry. Sawyer, what can I do?"

"I don't know," he whispered.

"Clem," Charlotte began. "Why don't you go ahead upstairs now? Me and your daddy are gonna talk for a little bit."

"Ok," she answered, and went up the stairs.

"Sawyer," Charlotte started. "Tell me what I can do to help you."

"You can dump all the damn alcohol that we have left down the drain," he sighed. "Y'know there are nights when I wish I could get just as drunk as Kate does…but I can't because I have to get up in the morning and work…or put Clem on the bus. I just-Kate thinks that she's the only one who is in pain."

"Well we both know that's not true," she said touching his arm softly.

"Charlotte," he whispered.

"Call me Lottie," she answered. She leaned toward him and he quickly backed away.

"What are you doing?" he asked. She leaned toward him again and brushed her lips against his. "I thought you had a boyfriend."

"So what?" she questioned. "We've become close in the last 2 weeks Sawyer. You've been calling me a lot."

"That don't mean that-" he started.

"Maybe this was never your intention, but you can't deny the attraction," she whispered, leaning toward him again.

"I'm in love with Kate," he answered, standing up. "I just can't talk to her about it."

"And you don't think that's even the slightest bit weird?" she asked. "You can't talk to your own wife about her problem?"

"Because she doesn't think she has one," he replied. "Charlotte…Lottie…whateve-go home."

"Fine," she sighed. "See you tomorrow…I'm sure."

She got up and left and Sawyer went up the stairs. He climbed into the bed next to Kate and ran his hand down her back. She moaned softly, beginning to wake up.

"Hey," she whispered. "I'm sorry. Sawyer, I'm sorry."

"Rory is ok," he told her. "She's-she's in the regular nursery Freckles."

"Really?" she asked, with tears coming into her eyes.

"Yeah," he nodded. "She's-she's great. The nurse said she could probably come home in another week."

"Only a week?" she asked, smiling widely.

"Yeah," he replied, also smiling. Kate leaned forward and kissed his lips. He kissed her back and she rolled over on top of him.

"It's been 2 weeks," she said with a soft smile.

"Clementine is up here," he whispered.

"Then lock the door," she responded. She got up off of him and walked to the door. She shut the door and locked it, then walked back to the bed.

"Kate," he whispered.

"It's time to celebrate," she replied. "Our baby is coming home."

"Are you gonna stop drinking then?" he asked, swallowing and looking at her seriously.

"Sawyer come on," she whispered. "This is supposed to be a happy time. I love you. I just want to love you James."

She pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor. Sawyer was used to the fact that she hardly ever wore a bra, or real clothes anymore. She always just wore a t-shirt and underwear. But when she walked toward him, wearing only her underwear, he shifted on the bed. She smiled at him and let her hair down out of the messy bun on top of her head. Her hair fell over her shoulders, and nearly covered her breasts, but she pushed it back. She climbed onto the bed, and over his lap.

"I love you," she whispered and kissed his lips. He ran his hand down her back.

"Love you too," he smiled.

Now, things were finally getting better for everyone. Kate and Sawyer made love, and then they both fell asleep. Sawyer knew that it the middle of the afternoon, and Clementine would probably be waiting for them, but he didn't care. He felt like Kate was doing better already.

Kate woke up before Sawyer did. She went downstairs and Clementine was there watching TV. Kate went to the liquor cabinet and took out the bottle. She poured herself a glass of vodka and walked over to the couch. She drank the whole glass, and then went back over to the counter to pour another glass.

"Mommy the water smells funny," Clementine said.

"It's not water," she answered. "It's for grownups."

"Oh," Clementine nodded. "Ok. Mommy what's for dinner?"

"I dunno," she shrugged. "What do you want?"

* * *

**15 Minutes Later**

Sawyer came downstairs and heard Kate talking. He couldn't understand what she was saying. He walked over to the couch and Kate was laying on the floor.

"I don't want to make macaroni again," she slurred. "Why do you always like macaroni. It's the only thing you ever eat."

"I like it," Clementine smiled.

"I don't," she answered.

"Mommy you're mean," Clementine frowned.

"Kate," Sawyer said, kneeling down next to her and helping her to her feet. "What are you doing on the floor?"

"She fell," Clementine said.

"I guess I'll go make macaroni," Kate sighed. Sawyer thought maybe she was drunk, but at the same time, he didn't want to believe it.

"Kate, you ok?" Sawyer asked.

"I'm fine," she smiled. She picked up her glass of vodka and walked into the kitchen. Sawyer followed her and sat at the bar where Kate was beginning to make Clementine macaroni.

"What do you want for dinner James?" she asked with a smile. "Look…I fixed your plate."

Kate put the plate she broke a month ago, in front of him. It was fixed, but there were still cracks in it. Sawyer sighed and looked at the plate.

"What are you drinking Kate?" he asked.

"It's just water," she chuckled. Sawyer stood up and tried to take the glass from her, but she only chuckled and downed it, then put it in the sink filled it with water, quickly put it into the dishwasher, and turned the dishwasher on. Sawyer sighed and stepped toward her. She took two steps back and was against the kitchen counter.

"What are you doing?" she asked. He pressed his lips to hers and pushed his tongue into her mouth. She moaned softly and lifted herself up on the counter, but kept her arms wrapped tightly around him.

"What are _you_ doing?" he whispered. "I mean-dammit Kate, our daughters are both safe. Rory is out of danger."

"Then why isn't she home?" she asked.

"Because," he answered. "They want to make sure-"

"They want to make sure," she interrupted. "Anything…anything could happen in the next week Sawyer."

"The next time that you're drunk in front of my daughter," he said, getting into her face. "You're going to wish you never moved in here."

"Get off of me," she scoffed and pushed him away. "You don't love me. You never did. You just wanted to take me away from Jack."

"Is that really what you feel?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer he took Kate by the arm and dragged her to the door.

"Sawyer stop it, that hurts," she whined. He shoved her toward the door and then opened it.

"If that's what you think Kate," he replied. "If you'd rather just go home to Jack…there's the door. But just to remind you…he's all cozy with Cassidy…so you might want to knock."

She stared at him and her lip quivered. Sawyer sighed and slammed the door.

"Sleep it off Kate," he scoffed.

"No mommy, stay," Clementine said running up to her and wrapping her arms around Kate's legs. "Don't leave us mommy."

"Don't worry," Kate replied, without looking at Clementine, instead keeping her eyes glued to Sawyer's. The tears were stinging Kate's eyes. She turned away and walked up the stairs. Sawyer sighed deeply and turned back to Clementine.

"You should go hug and kiss her daddy," Clementine stated.

"Why?" Sawyer asked.

"Because she's sad daddy," she answered. "You made her sad."

"Well, she made me sad," he frowned. "I'll hug her and kiss her later tonight."

Kate went into the bedroom and crawled back into bed. She knew that she had to stop drinking, but she couldn't. She only could feel ok when she was drinking. She cried herself to sleep.

Sawyer walked up the stairs and saw Kate curled up in bed.

"I don't know if you're hungry, but I brought you some chicken and rice," he mumbled. "I'm sorry I yelled atcha…I just-I hate seeing you this way Freckles."

She didn't respond, or even move from her spot. Sawyer sighed again and went into the bathroom.

"Fine," he murmured. "Be that way."

He shut the bathroom door and brushed his teeth. He came back into the bed room and took his shirt and pants off. He climbed into bed and faced away from her.

"Goodnight Kate," he scoffed. He rolled back over and looked at her. She looked peaceful, but almost too peaceful. "Freckles…come on…I know you're mad, but-"

He noticed that her chest wasn't rising and falling.

"Kate!" he exclaimed. He shoved her over and started shaking her. "Kate!"

**A/N: Thank you to all my awesome reviewers.**


	14. Chapter 14

Sawyer looked over at Kate, waiting for her to wake up. He was sitting in a chair across from her bed, but not near it. He had his arms crossed, and wished that she would wake up sooner rather than later. He just wanted to get home to Clementine. Tonight he watched as Kate almost died…

_FLASHBACK_

_"Kate," he repeated. "Baby open your eyes. Kate!" _

_He shook her again and then dialed 9-1-1. He started CPR, like the dispatcher told him to. Then dialed Charlotte's number._

_"Hey," she answered the phone. "You ready to see me again?"_

_"Charlotte shut up!" Sawyer yelled. He knew that he had probably scared her, but he didn't care. "Can you just come get Clementine. Kate's not-she's not breathing."_

_"Oh my God," Charlotte whispered. "Sawyer, I'm sorry. I'll be right there."_

_Sawyer climbed into the ambulance and was rushed to the hospital with Kate. On the way to the hospital they pumped her stomach. They kept using terminology that he was not familiar with. He wanted to scream at them to speak in English, but he kept his calm and waited._

_He was sitting in the waiting room while the doctors and nurses worked on Kate. He knew that she had alcohol poisoning. Part of him blamed himself for not taking the alcohol out of the house…but he knew that even if he had poured all the alcohol out, she would have found other ways to get it._

_"Sir!" he came out of his trance and looked at a woman standing in front of him. _

_"Is she ok?" he asked._

_"Yeah," she nodded. "She's stabilized. Sir there's something you need to know."_

_"What?" he murmured, not really wanting to know the real answer._

_"There were traces of prescription drugs found in her system," she answered. "And not-I mean heavy duty pain killers. Has your wife been having-"_

_"About a month ago she gave birth," he mumbled. "The baby was 3 months early…the baby's doing ok now, if you're wondering, but Kate's been taking it hard."_

_"She'll pull through this sir," she said with a weak smile. "She just needs her family right now."_

_"I'm her only family," he replied. _

_"Then she'll need you most of all."_

_FLASHBACK OVER_

He checked his watch and then noticed that Kate's eyes were flickering open. He sighed softly and walked toward her bed.

"Sawyer," she whispered. "My throat hurts."

"Yeah," he said walking toward her. "Kinda what happens when you have to have a tube jammed down your throat to pump out all the drugs and alcohol."

"Drugs," she scoffed.

"They found traces of prescription drugs Kate," he answered. "What's all that about?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"No," he shook his head. "No more lies Kate."

"Jack," she frowned. "I told him that I was in a lot of pain…physically. He prescribed me Vicodin."

"Great Kate," he mumbled. "Ok…here are your choices…either you get yourself sober and start going to AA meetings-"

"I am not an alcoholic!" she yelled as best she could. "I can control it Sawyer…if I wanted to. But I don't want to. I can stop drinking any time."

"Ok," he nodded. "Then stop. Stop drinking…for me and for Clementine…but most of all for Rory."

"I don't want to stop," she answered.

"Fine," he whispered. "Your other option is to get the hell out of my house. I don't want you around either of my daughters when you're like that. And since Rory is coming home soon I don't want her around it."

"You can't keep her from me," she scoffed. "She's my daughter. Courts always side with the mother."

"Not when the mother is jobless and an alcoholic."

"I'm not an alcoholic Sawyer," she said again. "Why are you so mean to me? I have a job. I take care of our family."

"Correction Kate," he replied. "You took care of our family…past tense. Ever since Rory-"

"Did you expect me to just go on with my life like nothing happened? Like Rory didn't even exist?"

"Scuse me Kate, but you practically did act like she didn't exist," he answered. "You never went to see her in the hospital. Suck it up Kate…and I don't mean the alcohol. I'm going home to Clementine."

"And Charlotte? Are you going home to her too? I saw you kiss her," she said, with tears coming into her eyes.

"Hello!" he exclaimed. "Do you have eyes…and ears? I pushed her away! She kissed me Kate…and I pushed her away. I didn't want that kiss Kate. Goodnight."

"I love you," she sobbed. "I love you Sawyer…don't-don't leave me."

"I love you too," he shrugged. "And I know you love me Kate…but it's a manner of who you love more. Us…your family…or your alcohol."

"Sawyer," she whispered. Sawyer shook his head and walked out of the room. He could hear her sobbing, but didn't turn back.

When he walked through the front door he knew Clementine would be sleeping. It was almost 3:00 in the morning. Charlotte was laying on the couch. The TV was on a low volume and she was curled up under a blanket sleeping. He walked over to her and touched her shoulder.

"Charlotte," he whispered.

"Hmm, sorry," she mumbled and sat up. "I got tired."

"It's ok," he nodded.

"Is Kate ok?" she asked.

"They had to pump her stomach," he replied. "But she'll live. Whether or not she's gonna be ok…I dunno."

"Alcohol makes you do irrational things," she whispered. She sat up and walked into the kitchen. She took a bottle out of the cupboard and handed it to him.

"You can't be serious," he said. She lead him over to the sink and unscrewed the cap. He looked at her, and didn't have to ask her what she was doing. She guided his hand to dump the alcohol down the sink. Then she ran her hand up his arm.

"I love you Sawyer," she whispered.

"Charlotte," he said quietly. She leaned forward and kissed his lips. "Screw it."

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. He could feel Charlotte stumble back slightly, obviously not knowing that he was going to react this way. He kissed her and then backed away.

"Get the hell out of my house," he said sternly. "Tomorrow I find Clementine a new babysitter."

Sawyer went up the stairs and he heard Charlotte leave the house. He poked his head in to Clementine's room, and saw that she was sleeping soundly. He walked over to her bed and kissed her on the forehead.

"Your momma is gonna be ok," he whispered.

He stripped his clothes off and climbed into bed. He missed Kate's body next to him. Even though they had been fighting lately, she was still his fiancé and she still kept him warm at night. He felt like he had just closed his eyes when he heard the bedroom door open. Kate was coming quickly toward him.

"You," she said. "You."

She jumped into his arms and kissed him.

"Me what?" he asked.

"Baby, you asked me at the hospital…you told me I had to choose between you, Clem, and Rory, and alcohol…you," she sniffled. "I'm so sorry Sawyer. I'm-can you ever forgive me."

He kissed her lips and pulled her down on top of him. She sniffled and lifted her head.

"I'm-I'm still not really feeling too great Sawyer," she whispered.

"We're dumping everything out, right now," he said, leading her by the hand. "Even the damn cooking wine."

Kate was sitting on the couch in her pajamas with Sawyer holding her. She was watching Clementine, watch The Wizard of Oz.

"Do you have to watch that movie again?!" Kate exclaimed.

"It's my favorite," Clementine frowned.

"It's ok Clem," Sawyer nodded. "Mommy's just feeling kinda sick. I'm gonna put her up to bed ok?"

"Ok," she nodded. He took Kate upstairs and put her in bed.

"Sawyer," Kate whispered. "Under-under the bed."

Sawyer looked under the bed and found another bottle. He sighed, but was thankful that she told him.

"Anywhere else?" he asked.

"Closet," she said softly. He walked over to the closet and found 2 more. He sighed again and bent his head back.

"Ok," he breathed in deeply. "It's ok Kate. It's ok."

"No it's not," she sniffled. Sawyer stood up and walked over to the bed. He stroked her forehead and hair softly and kissed her on the lips.

"It will be though," he whispered. "I'm getting both my girls back. You and Rory both."

"I wanna go see her when I feel better," she answered.

"Well," he shrugged. "Don't know much about how long it takes for an alcoholic to feel better Kate…but Rory might be home by then. Go to sleep Freckles. And I know that you just want to feel normal…but for now…when you're going through your withdrawls…you're going to stay up here. I don't want you upsetting Clem."

"I don't want to upset her," she shook her head. "Of course I don't want to upset her."

Sawyer was downstairs with Clementine, watching the movie. He knew that kids got attached to things…but Kate was right…it was the 4th time she was watching it that week.

"Don't you want to watch Cinderella instead. The witch scares you," Sawyer said.

"But everything else is fun daddy!" she exclaimed. "Like the funny munchkinds. I saw a munckind at school."

"The word is munchkin," he chuckled. "And please don't tell me that you called the person you saw a munchkin."

"Well I said 'you're little, like a munchkin', and she told me I was right," she said.

"Who was this?" he asked.

"A mommy," she replied. "Travis's mommy is a munchkin."

"Travis's mommy is a little person," he said. "Munchkin isn't a nice word."

"But you make funny names for everyone daddy," she stated with a smile.

"Well, you certainly got me there miss smarty pants," he answered. "But don't call her a munchkin ok? It might hurt her feelings, and Travis's too."

"Ok daddy," she said. "But she's so little daddy. She's littler than Travis! Why daddy?"

"Because some people are just born little," he shrugged.

"But why?" she asked.

"Well you've seen Snow White," he told her. "It's like the little men that Snow White lives with. Only it's not a fairy tale. Some people really are that small."

"But why?" she questioned.

"Do you know why you have blonde hair?" he asked.

"Because you do," she said expertly.

"Well," he chuckled. "You're right about that one. Well some people have blonde hair, and some have brown, and some people have blue eyes, or gorgeous green eyes like you and mommy."

"But I used to have blue like you daddy," she said. "Why?"

"I dunno," he shrugged.

"Well why are people short," she said. "And why isn't Travis short?"

"Is Travis's daddy tall?" he asked.

"I dunno," she replied. "I'll ask tomorrow."

"Ok," he chuckled. "Well I don't know all the answers to all your questions, and even when you're all grown up it might not make sense, but be nice to Travis's mom. Just because she's smaller than you, she's still a grownup."

"She should drink milk," she stated.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you said that milk makes you big and strong. If she drank milk maybe she would get big," she smiled. Sawyer chuckled back and wrapped his arms around her.

"Love you baby," he whispered.

"I love you too daddy," she said.

Sawyer sat on the couch all night with Clementine. He was worried about Kate, and went to check on her several times. There were a couple times when she was just laying there with her eyes opened. She came downstairs for dinner, and insisted that she felt better, so Sawyer told her she could cuddle with them on the couch.

"Sawyer," she whispered.

"What is it darlin?" he asked.

"Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.

"For loving me," she answered. "I'll be better I promise."

"Ok," he nodded.

That night, they put Clementine to bed, and Sawyer climbed into bed next to Kate. It was only the night before that he had gotten into the bed with her, not even noticing that she was unconscious and not breathing. He put his hand across her mouth and she opened her eyes.

"Just checking," he said, giving her somewhat of a fake smile.

"You're never going to trust me again are you?" she asked.

"Kate, that trust has to be built," he answered.

"But I told you I was going to be better," she replied. "I said I wanted to stop. I want to be a good mom for Clementine and Rory. I don't want-I just don't want you to hate me."

"Well unfortunately Kate, or I guess fortunately for you, I don't think there is a single thing that you could do that would make me stop loving you," he stated. "I know that I said horrible things to you at the hospital, about keeping Rory from you, and don't get me wrong…I meant every word because I refuse to let my kids grow up with a drunk parent like I did, but-I know this sounds lame and clichéd, but I said it because I love you Kate. Because I hoped with everything inside of me that you would come to your senses and stop drinking."

"I'm going to," she said.

"Good," he nodded, kissing her on the cheek.

"Still don't believe me do you?"

"The first 8 years of my life," he began. "My dad came home drunk a lot. He was mostly a good dad when he wasn't drinking…which really wasn't very often. Then I moved in with my grandparents…who were also both drunks…it was the south…we southerners like our Southern Comfort. My grandparents were good to me…they gave me the best life they knew how…but they were drunks…always passed out on the couch. They always said they'd stop. Well my gramps died of liver disease…brought on by his alcoholism. Drunks can lie Kate. And I know you can lie."

"But I'm not," she argued.

"Ok," he whispered. "I'm gonna try my best to believe you Kate…but like I said, trust has to be built again. Don't just say you're going to stop…take some action."

"I already gave you all my bottles," she sniffled. "I don't know what else you want me to do."

"It's ok," he said softly. "Come here."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. She rested her head on his chest and they fell asleep like that.

**A/N: Ok...so the munchkin thing...I'm actually for real a little person, and I was at work the other day and this little boy was asking me if I was a munchkin. It was the cutest thing ever. And he kept asking me why I was so short...I was like "Because I was born that way." And he was like "Why?" I was like "I don't know...I just was." And he wouldn't take that as an answer. It was hilarious...so that was the little story behind that. Travis will play a bigger role later on. But anyway enough rambling, Please review!!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: OK...so this one is semi short, but I hope still good.**

Kate was sleeping soundly, until she started dreaming…

_There were metal bars around her. It wasn't a jail cell, but instead was a cage. An actual cage. She looked around and looked across to Sawyer, who was outside the cage smiling._

_"It's what you get Kate," he said._

_"What?" she asked. Then she noticed he was holding Rory. He walked away from her and left her all alone._

"No," she moaned in her sleep. "No."

"Freckles," Sawyer whispered, and touched her face. "Baby, wake up. It's just a dream."

She gasped loudly and opened her eyes. She looked at Sawyer and frowned.

"Just a dream," he said softly.

"I was in a cage," she sniffled. "And you took Rory from me."

"Never gonna happen," he shrugged.

"You said you'd take her," she answered.

"Only if you don't stop your drinking," he replied with his jaw clenched. "You planning on drinking again?"

"No," she sighed. "I just-I had a dream earlier today that Rory came home and she died."

"She's not going to die Kate," he shook his head. "This family has been through way too much to have our baby die."

He leaned forward and kissed her lips. She kissed him back and wrapped her arms around him. She reached her hands down to the top of his boxers.

"Freckles."

"Come on," she whispered.

"It's 3 o'clock in the morning," he told her.

"So?" she asked. She leaned forward and kissed his lips slowly. He rolled over on top of her and kissed down her body. She smiled at him and wrapped her legs around him. "Make me pregnant."

"What?" he said, stopping, and rolling off of her.

"I want a baby Sawyer," she whispered.

"Darlin' we got a baby," he replied softly. "She's comin' home soon."

"What if she doesn't," she sniffled and sobbed.

"Shh," he shook his head. "Kate…it's gonna be ok. And Rory is coming home. You gotta believe that baby."

"I had a dream she died," she sighed.

"Yeah, you just told me," he nodded.

"What if my dream happens?"

"Kate," he began, this time becoming slightly annoyed. "It was just a dream. Y'know I had a dream that you were just fine. I had this dream that you, and the baby came home and you were both happy and healthy and everything worked out."

"But what if it doesn't?" she asked.

"Sweetheart," he began.

"No," she sniffled. "Don't. Sawyer. Just don't. I guess if we're not having sex, I'll just go back to sleep."

"I don't know why you're-" he started, and then stopped. "Yeah…never mind, I guess I do know why you're acting this way."

"Why because I'm just a stupid drunk?" she scoffed.

"No, because you're a stupid drunk, who's trying to stop, and you're going through the bitchy withdrawl stage."

"So now I'm a bitch?" she asked.

"Guess that's what I'm saying," he shrugged. "Goodnight Kate. Go to sleep. I'll talk to you when you wake up."

"I'm just gonna go downstairs and sleep," she mumbled, and rolled out of the bed.

"Why?" he asked, sitting up.

"Because I really don't feel like sleeping next to you tonight," she stated.

"Dammit Kate," he said softly. "Come on. Just stay here."

"Why?" she whispered. He leaned forward and kissed her lips. She gave in and kissed him back slowly. He ran his hands up the back of her t-shirt. She was wearing his t-shirt and a skimpy pair of underwear. He flipped back over on top of her and continued to kiss her.

"Can we go get Rory tomorrow?" she asked.

"We can go try," he answered.

The next day Kate and Sawyer took Clementine to school, and then went to the hospital. Kate held on to Sawyer's hand tightly as he guided her to the regular nursery. It wasn't even on the same floor, which both Sawyer and Kate thought was strange. They walked over to the big window at the nursery. Kate looked at Sawyer, and he pointed at the baby. She was crying hard, but it sounded healthy. Rory had much more color today. They walked into the nursery and Kate didn't listen to the woman stopping her. She went over to the bed and picked Rory up.

"Rory," she whispered. "Hey my baby. Hey I'm your momma. I know you probably don't know me because I've been pretty-well I've been a pretty crappy mom lately, but I'm here now."

The baby stopped crying, and Kate looked at Sawyer with a smile. He walked toward her and looked down at the baby. He looked to Kate again and kissed her quickly.

"I want to take her home," Kate whispered. "Can we please take her home Sawyer? Please?"

"I dunno," he said softly. "Let's go ask."

"We're going to have to ask you to leave," the nurse said looking at them aggravated.

"Why?" Kate asked. "We're holding our daughter."

"You're supposed to wait for someone," she answered. "You could be anyone. How do we have proof that this is your daughter."

"Can you go get a doctor?" Sawyer asked. "We'd like to take our baby home now."

"I'll go ask," she responded.

It took almost 2 hours to finish everything that needed to be done, but they were able to take Rory home. Kate sat in the backseat on the way home with the baby. Every little peep that Rory made Kate would gasp and tend to her.

"Kate, she's ok," Sawyer would assure her. "You can't freak out for every noise she makes."

"Watch me," she answered.

They got home and Kate wouldn't give up holding Rory. Sawyer sat with them on the couch, and tried several times to get Kate to let him hold her, but she refused. He was glad to see her so happy. She hadn't taken her eyes off the baby.

"Sawyer," she whispered. "She looks normal. Finally our baby looks better. She looks like us."

"She's cute ain't she?" he chuckled.

"She's the best," Kate smiled at Sawyer. "How the hell did you put up with me, when I didn't-Sawyer I was horrible. I treated you horrible…why do you still-"

"Because I love you," he interrupted. "Kate, it's not about putting up with it…I love you."

"I love you too," she replied, and turned toward him and kissed him softly. She handed him the baby and then deepened the kiss.

"Hmm," he said softly. "Why did you hand me the baby when you really didn't want me to hold her at all?"

She chuckled and then took the baby back. Kate bent down and put the baby down in the bouncy seat. She turned back to Sawyer and kissed him again. She crawled onto his lap and he kissed her back and turned them over. He laid her down on the couch and laid down on top of her. They started making out heavily, but then the phone rang. Kate moaned and Sawyer sat up and picked the phone up.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Mr. Ford?" a woman on the other end said.

"Yeah," he sighed. "Speaking."

"Is your daughter Clementine Ford?" she asked.

"Sh-yeah," he whispered. "I'll be right there-"

"She's-this isn't exactly easy to tell you," she sighed.

"Just-just tell me," he replied.

"There's so many kids," she sobbed.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"She disappeared," she answered. He hung up the phone and looked at Kate.

"What?" Kate asked.

Without answering Sawyer slammed the phone down, which woke up Rory and made her start crying. Kate looked at him and picked up the baby. Still Sawyer didn't say anything, and went over to the door and left the house.

"Sawyer!" Kate exclaimed. She watched him walk across the street and started pounding on Jack's door.

He could feel his face get hot. He almost thought that he would smack Cassidy in the face, if she even answered the door. The door swung opened and Cassidy was standing in front of him.

"Where's my daughter!" he screamed.

"What?" she asked.

"She's gone! Someone took her off the playground at school," he answered. "Where the hell did you take my daughter?"

"S-sawyer," she whispered. "I didn't-I swear. I told you that I wasn't going to-I didn't take her."

"Well then who did?" he asked, this time calming down almost completely and now just devastated.

**A/N: REVIEW?**


	16. Chapter 16

This time there would be no call from Clementine telling him that she was ok. He didn't know who had her. And this time Cassidy was there too. She was sitting on the couch with her head down in her hands. She looked up at Sawyer who was holding Rory and Kate was sitting next to him, trying to get him to speak.

"Sawyer, we will find her," she assured him.

"Twice," he murmured. "Twice in just 3 weeks Kate…I just thought today was going to be a happy day. I thought we were finally going to get our family back. She's-who would take her Kate? Who took our little girl?"

"I dunno," she shrugged. "I'm so sorry. Sawyer, what can I do?"

"Nothing," he answered.

"Sawyer," Cassidy said standing up and coming toward him. "Do you owe anyone money? Are you-I mean-would anyone be pissed off at you?"

"No I-" he began, and then stopped abruptly. He stayed silent for a long time and then shook his head. "Oh my God. It's all my fault. It's-Clementine is gone because of me."

"Why?" Kate asked. He stood up and handed Kate the baby. Then he started toward the front door. "Sawyer!"

"I'll stay here with the baby," Cassidy stated. Kate stared at her. "Kate…I'm not going anywhere. I wouldn't take Rory."

Kate sighed and walked out of the house. She expected Sawyer to be halfway down the street by now, but instead he was sitting on the front step. Kate sat down next to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Honey, why is it your fault?" she whispered.

"Because I fell in love," he shook his head. "I'm so stupid to have fallen in love with you."

"Thanks," she half scoffed.

"No," he sighed turning toward her and taking her hands in his own. "It was supposed to be easy. I get you to trust me, I get you to sleep with me, and then I get you to give me your husband's 300 grand."

"Yeah," she whispered.

"Well, I was supposed to give 150 of that to this guy…I owe money to," he answered. "He called me to see how the progress was going…when I told him to-I told him that I fell in love with you and I couldn't take your money. He told me too bad."

"Sawyer," she said softly.

"He told me that I'd pay," he shook his head. "I thought he meant-I never thought that-"

"It's gonna be ok Sawyer," she whispered. "I know that you don't believe me, but-"

"I gotta get out of here."

Sawyer stood up and left the front porch. Kate sighed softly and went into the house. Rory was crying, and Cassidy was trying to calm her down. Kate walked over to Cassidy and took the baby from her.

"He's-" she began. "He's not-he left."

"I'm gonna go home," Cassidy sniffled. "I don't want to intrude anymore than I already have. I don't know what to do Kate."

"Stay," Kate shrugged. "Jack won't be home till 8 or 9. Stay for dinner."

Kate and Cassidy hung out till 8:00. They swapped stories about Clementine. Kate realized how much Cassidy missed Clementine. She thought about if she had given up Rory. She would want to be in her life too. Kate was getting worried about Sawyer, but she knew that he would be back eventually. Cassidy left when she saw Jack pull up into the driveway. Kate went up to the bedroom and watched TV, and finally at almost 11:00 she heard the front door open. She ran down the stairs and saw Sawyer stumbling up the stairs.

"Sawyer," she whispered.

"Hey baby," he replied and wrapped his arms around her.

"Come on," she said softly. She helped him into bed, and pulled off his shoes.

"Pants too," he mumbled. She pulled his pants off and climbed into bed next to him. He rolled toward her and started kissing her softly, but in control. She kissed him back and ran her hand across his back and down his chest.

"Do you love me, Kate?" he asked.

"Of course I do," she said, slightly defensively. "What kind of question is that?"

"I'm sorry that I made you stop drinking," he replied.

"I'm not," she shook her head. "I've snapped out of it now Sawyer. I can be here now…for Rory, and especially now for you."

"I want to get drunk."

"I think you already are," she stated, putting her hand against his cheek.

"I'm sorry Kate," he whispered. "I didn't mean to get so drunk."

"Hey," she replied shaking her head. "It's ok. It's ok."

"No it's not...I'm a hypocrite," he said.

"I think you can have a get out of jail free card considering the circumstances," she smiled. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She deepened the kiss all on her own, and then he backed away.

"I want to-I need you."

"James," she said softly. He kissed her again and then ran his hand down her body. She was only wearing a small tank top, and a pair of underwear. He ran his hand up her tank top and she smiled at him softly. She sat up and pulled Sawyer into a sitting position. He looked at her and lifted her shirt up over her head. She lifted his shirt over his head too, and he wrapped his arms around her and laid her back down. He kissed her lips softly and slowly, but also drunkly. She sighed softly under his weight and let out a moan.

"Do you want this?" he asked softly.

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"Me," he mumbled. "Do you want me?"

"What are you talking about?" she said softly putting her hand on his chest.

"I need you," he repeated. "Do you need me?"

"Sawyer," she began.

"I'm being dumb," he sighed.

"Yeah," she whispered. "Sawyer, you're being dumb because of course I need you. And I love you, and I want you."

"Even though I'm drunk?" he asked.

"Honey, I was drunk for 3 weeks," she answered. "You're allowed one slip up. I mean…I love Clementine too, but, I really don't know how you're feeling."

"What if he hurts her?" he whispered. "And what if…God what if he comes and takes Rory too."

"We won't let him," she shook her head. "We don't even know if he's the one that took her."

"Yes we do!" he exclaimed. "I do! He took her!"

"Ok," Kate whispered. "Ok…I'm sorry."

"Freckles," he sighed. "What if we never get her back?"

"He wants money right?" she asked.

"I don't even know," he replied. "He did want money, but what if he just took her because he could. What if he doesn't feel like giving her back. You don't understand how his mind works. He'll keep her just to hurt me."

"We'll find a way to get her back James," she answered.

"Please," he whispered and rested his head against her shoulder. She backed away and kissed his lips softly. She moved out of her underwear and he started doing the same. He rolled over on top of her and she ran her hands through his hair. Kate could hear the baby crying. She tried to get out from underneath Sawyer, but he didn't even seem to notice. He continued to kiss down her body.

"Sawyer," she said pushing him away slightly.

"She's fine," he whispered continuing to kiss her.

"I have to go check on her."

Kate got out from underneath Sawyer and wrapped a robe around herself. She went into Rory's room and picked her up. She sighed softly to herself and rocked Rory gently.

"Momma's here," she whispered. "Oh, it feels so good to hear you crying and hold you."

Rory continued to cry as Kate rocked slowly. Kate walked over to the chair and sat down. Rory didn't seem very happy no matter what Kate did. She tried giving her a pacifier, and rocked her, but nothing was working. She went downstairs with Rory and made her a bottle. Rory didn't want the bottle either. She changed her diaper, and that didn't help either. It was almost 20 minutes total of Rory crying non stop. Sawyer came into the room where Kate was sitting with Rory, and looked down at her. It was obvious that he had taken enough time to get sober. He wasn't completely sober, but much better.

"Lemme try," he murmured. He took the baby from Kate and put her on the changing table.

"I already tried that," Kate replied. Sawyer smiled at her softly and took a small blanket out of the baby's dresser. He placed Rory on the blanket and wrapped her up tightly. "Don't hurt her."

"It's not hurtin' her Freckles," he chuckled. "Babies like to feel tight and secure."

Sure enough Sawyer placed Rory into the crib, and put the pacifier in Rory's mouth. Rory closed her eyes and stopped crying. Kate smiled and got up. She stepped toward Sawyer, and they both looked down at Rory.

"I'm glad one of us knows what we're doing," she said, slightly in awe still. "She's so pretty."

"We make one hell of a great looking kid Freckles," he replied, putting an arm around her and looking at the baby. "Should we go practice makin' more?"

"Sawyer," she smiled and chuckled. He picked her up and carried her back to the bedroom. He put her on the bed gently and opened the robe. She was completely naked underneath and Sawyer kissed her up her body to her mouth.

"Freckles what are we gonna do?" he asked with a sigh, and rested his body on top of hers. She kissed him on the forehead and pulled the blankets up over them.

**2 Days Later**

Sawyer was planning on spending all day, every day trying to get a hold of Hibbs. No one seemed to know where he was or anything about how to get a hold of him. They put in another police report about their missing daughter. The police almost thought that it was a 'boy who cried wolf' scenario. No one could believe that the same child was taken within weeks. Of course they said that they would do everything to find her, but Sawyer was somewhat skeptical.

Kate did everything she could to try and help him, but she almost felt like just taking care of Rory and keeping out of the way was the best way to help Sawyer. Sawyer didn't want Kate to feel that way but he didn't know what else to tell her to do.

Sawyer finally got a lead. Someone who knew where Hibbs was staying. In fact, Hibbs was staying 3 miles away, on the other side of town.

* * *

Clementine was sitting on the floor at the strangers house. He told her that he was a friend of Sawyer's so she had to come with him because he was taking her home. When they got to the house that wasn't her own Clementine begged them to take her home, but they told her that her daddy would pick her up later. She was scared, but they kept insisting that Sawyer would come.

"Mr. Hibbs?" Clementine asked. "When will my daddy be here?"

"I don't know honey," Hibbs answered. "As soon as he can get here."

"But I want to go home now."

"I have a secret to tell you," he replied. "Clementine, this might be sad for you, but your daddy isn't coming."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Well I just got off the phone with him, and he said that he was too busy with the new baby to see you," he answered.

"You told me that he was coming soon!" she exclaimed. "You're a liar!"

"I didn't want to make you sad Clementine," he replied. "But I'm telling the truth now. He called me, and told me that the new baby and Kate were more important than you."

"Does he love the new baby more?" she questioned.

"Well it's a fact that mommies and daddies love all their kids," he smiled. "But it's also true that one baby is always loved more."

"Daddy told me that he loves us both the same," she replied.

"Well he lied," Hibbs answered. "He loves Rory more. He doesn't love you anymore."

"Daddy told me that love grows."

"Well he loves you, but his love is grown for your sister, only. He doesn't love you…he's going to leave you here forever and ever. I'm your new daddy."

"No!" she exclaimed.

"Well we will see if your daddy ever comes to get you," he smirked.

"Can I call him please?" she asked.

"Not yet," he shook his head. "Your daddy wants some time just him and mommy. You'll just get in the way."

"You liar!" she exclaimed. "Daddy loves me!"

"If you think so," he smirked.

* * *

That night Sawyer went upstairs early. Kate did the dishes, and then took Rory up to bed. She rocked Rory for the longest time in the rocking chair, even though Rory wasn't crying, or even awake. Rory had gone fast to sleep, but Kate continued to sit there holding the baby. Finally she got up and went back into the bedroom. The bedroom was empty when she got there. She sighed softly to herself and went into the bathroom. She could hear the shower running when she got into the bathroom.

"Sawyer?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered, trying to sound normal, except for Kate could hear a quiver in his voice. She walked to the shower curtain and pulled it back. He had his head against the shower wall.

"Sawyer," she whispered gently. She put her hand against his shoulder and saw him shivering…that was why he had a waver in his voice. He was standing under ice cold water.

"Sawyer!" she exclaimed. She pulled him out of the water and wrapped a towel around his waist and then took another one and wrapped it around his shoulders. "Sawyer hold the towel."

He listened to her and then followed her into the bedroom. Kate lead him to the bed and put him under the covers. She climbed into the bed next to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"What the hell were you doing?" she whispered.

"Trying to…I dunno…just trying to feel something Kate," he sighed. "I'm numb."

She kissed his blue lips, and he kissed her back. He was still shaking slightly and Kate started stripping her own clothes off. Sawyer was already completely naked, and she could feel him start to warm up from her body heat.

* * *

She ran her hand down his back which was now wet with sweat instead of cold water. They laid in each others arms. Sawyer kept pressing his face against the crook of Kate's neck. She put her hands on his face. His eyes were closed, but she knew that he wasn't sleeping.

"Sawyer, open your eyes," she whispered. "Look at me."

He reluctantly opened his eyes. He looked at her, but it was almost a look of annoyance rather than truly getting ready to listen to whatever she was going to say.

"We will get Clementine back," she answered.

"I know," he nodded. "I'm going to get her back tomorrow…promise me you'll take care of her."

"What?" she asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Just promise me Freckles," he said. "No matter what happens, you'll take care of Clementine and Rory."

"I don't understand," she shook her head.

"You will," he whispered. "But I just want to let you know that I love you more than anything Kate. I love you. And the only reason-I'm doing this for Clementine. Tell both my daughters that I love them too."

"Sawyer what are you going to do?" she asked.

"You'll find out," he answered. "That's all I can say."

"Don't do anything stupid Sawyer," she shook her head. "Sawyer, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to get my daughter back," he answered.

**A/N: Hah. So today I was at work (the video store), and there was this girl who came in to rent season 3 of Lost, and she was like "OMG I'm addicted, is season 4 out yet?" I told her no, and she was freaking out. She was so upset. I told her she could watch it online if she couldn't wait. She was funny. She told me that she loved Sawyer, and she hoped that she wouldn't end up hating him. I told her 'don't worry, if anything you'll love him more.' It's a great job, when you can talk about Lost all day! Anyway please revieeeeew!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: This chapter does move ahead quickly.**

Sawyer spent the day making phone calls in the office. Kate didn't really know what to do, so she stayed out of his way. She made him a sandwich for lunch and brought it to him. He thanked her silently and stayed on the phone. Kate tried to figure out what was going on by just listening to Sawyer's end of the conversation, but she didn't.

Sawyer spent a full week making phone calls, and leaving the house sporadically. Kate asked him all the time what he was doing, but each time he would just say that he was working. Kate new damn well that he wasn't working, and that the only thing he was working on was getting Clementine back. She just hoped that he wouldn't do anything stupid.

Every night when they would lay in bed they would start out apart, but Sawyer would always reach for her and they would end up making love. Most of the time they were interrupted by Rory, but neither of them ever cared.

Clementine had been gone for a week and 2 days. Kate had just gotten out of the shower. She stepped toward the mirror and wiped it off from the steam. Sawyer came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He unwrapped the towel from around Kate and let it fall to the floor.

"Sawyer," she whispered and bent her head back, resting the back of her head on his chest. "What are you doing?"

"I wanna remember every inch of your body. I wanna just-" he stopped talking, and turned her around to kiss her. She kissed him back and he picked her up and carried her to the bed. She was still dripping wet, but he put her on the bed and looked down at her. She looked at him too and smiled at him.

"James," she said softly. "We're gonna get her back."

"I know," he replied. "And I don't really want to think about her, or talk about her."

He crawled over her body and ran his hands completely over her naked body. She moved underneath him and then kissed him. Their lips and tongues tangled together. Even though they had done this every other day this week, it was different. The way Sawyer was kissing her, she felt like he was kissing her like it was the last time he was ever going to kiss her again.

"Sawyer," she whispered.

"Shh," he shook his head. "I love you Freckles. I love you so much. I hope you know that."

"Sawyer, why are you-" she began.

"I just love you."

"I love you too," she replied. As they moved together Sawyer stared down at Kate's face. She had her eyes closed in ecstasy, but every so often would open her eyes and see Sawyer looking at her. He moved faster and then stopped.

"Sh-" he started.

"Did-did the condom break?" she asked with a soft gasp.

"Yeah," he whispered.

This night Rory didn't cry once. It was almost as if she knew that Kate and Sawyer needed the time alone. Sawyer ran his hands down her stomach and kissed her. They were laying in each others arms. Kate smiled at him and took a deep breath.

"That was amazing," she said. "Even though the condom broke."

She chuckled softly and kissed his lips.

"You're amazing," he said stroking her hair, and the side of her face. "Let's do it again."

"I thought that condom was the last one," she whispered.

"It was," he replied. "But I don't care. Let's do it again."

Before she could answer he pressed his lips against hers and flipped over on top of her. She didn't have time to protest, but the way he was kissing her and feeling his hands against her body was enough for Kate. Sawyer was gentle and loving and made sure he kissed every inch of Kate. She kissed him back just as lovingly, but she was also confused as to why he insisted on having sex again. This time afterwards they both fell asleep quickly.

It was 5:30 in the morning. Sawyer had gotten up to get ready for his day. He went into the bathroom, and tried his best to be as quiet as he could. He walked back into the bedroom and watched Kate sleeping. He walked over to the bed and kissed her gently on the lips. She woke up slightly and kissed him back. Then he couldn't stop and kissed her harder. This time she did wake up, and moaned softly.

"Hmm! Sawyer what are you doing?" she mumbled.

"I'm kissing my fiancé," he answered, kissing her again. He helped her sit up and pulled her shirt up over her head. She allowed him to but was still trying to figure out what was wrong with Sawyer. This was now the third time in just 12 hours that he wanted to make love to her.

"Don't hate me," he whispered into her ear.

"Sawyer," she started, but instead he kissed her to stop her from talking. He started taking his own clothes off and then leaned back down to kiss her. As he touched her and kissed her she let out soft moans. "Sawyer."

"Call me James," he said softly, but out loud. She nodded and kissed him again. She flipped over on top of him and moaned his real name softly into his ear.

They were laying together again, and Kate could barely keep her eyes opened. Sawyer kissed her lips softly and then started leaving the bed.

"Where are you going?" she mumbled, already starting to fall asleep again.

"Shh," he said, leaning in to kiss her again. "Just go to sleep baby. I love you so much Kate."

"Love you too," she whispered.

When Kate woke up Sawyer wasn't in bed with her. She got dressed and went in to get Rory. Rory was in the crib still and Kate carried her down the stairs. She went to Sawyer's office, where she thought he'd be, but he wasn't there.

"Sawyer, what did you do," she whispered to herself.

She spent the day by herself, with Rory. She thought about going across the street to see if Cassidy was ok, but at the same time she wasn't sure if she should. It was around 5:00, and the doorbell rang. Kate reluctantly went to the front door and looked out the window. She couldn't see anything, but decided to open the door.

"Momma!" Clementine sobbed. Kate gasped loudly and picked her up.

"Clem," she whispered and held her tightly.

"I want my daddy!" she exclaimed.

"I know you do," Kate nodded. "I want him too. I just-I don't know what to tell you sweetness. He's not here right now. He told me he was gonna go get you back."

"The bad man told me my daddy loved Rory more," she sniffled.

"Oh that's not true," she shook her head. "Honey, your daddy loves you so much. He left to go find you."

"I'm never gonna see him again," Clementine cried. "It's been a long time mommy."

"Yeah," she whispered. "It has been a long time. I don't know when we're gonna see daddy again."

Kate sat down on the couch with Clementine on her lap. She spent the rest of the night taking care of Clementine and Rory. She tried her best to assure Clementine that Sawyer would be back but she didn't even know where he was or what he was doing.

Sawyer left the house at 6:00 in the morning. He went in to say goodbye to Rory and then he left the house. He walked out the front door and walked the 3 miles to where he knew that Hibbs was staying. By the time he came to the house it was 8:00. He looked at the door and then pounded on it. Hibbs came to the door and smirked.

"Good to see you again James," he said.

"Where's my daughter?" Sawyer asked.

"Already gone," Hibbs answered.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "I'm here. I came to make an exchange…me for my daughter. Now where is she?"

"I didn't need some emotional reunion," Hibbs replied. "Jason took her. She'll be back at your house today."

"Can I call my fiancé?"

"And tell her what?" he scoffed. "Sorry honey, I'm going back to work? You won't see her for another year."

"A year?! Why?!"

"Because you owe me!" he yelled. "And if I find out that you go and see her…I'll make you pay the rest of your miserable life."

**2 Weeks Later**

Kate was losing her mind with worry about where Sawyer was. She was pissed that he hadn't told her where he was going or what he had done, but at the same time she knew that he was probably doing a favor for whoever had Clementine. Clementine began to think it really was her fault that Sawyer wasn't around.

Cassidy started coming over during the days to help Kate with the kids. Kate and Cassidy started becoming very close. Every day Cassidy made Kate feel better, but at night Kate would lay in bed alone, and wonder where Sawyer was. Little did she know that he was only 3 miles away.

Sawyer went to the school most days and would watch Clementine play on the playground. He never made himself visible to her for fear of what would happen if he did, but this way he could see Clementine. He missed Kate like crazy. He was working on the newest con. A woman who had just gotten a million dollar settlement from her divorce. He hadn't even been able to bring himself to kiss her yet, but Hibbs continued to threaten him.

**3 Weeks Later**

Kate had woken up every day with morning sickness. The first few times she just ignored it. She thought that even though she and Sawyer had had sex twice without protection, and once when the condom broke, she still didn't think that she could be pregnant. She didn't really want to be pregnant because she didn't want to be all alone. But at the same time she did want to be because she missed Sawyer. Eventually she decided to go buy a pregnancy test. She wished that Sawyer was there to wait with her, but she knew that at least if she was pregnant she would always have a part of Sawyer with her. She put her hands against her belly and looked at herself in the mirror.

"Kate!" Cassidy's voice rang through the house. Kate didn't say anything, but Cassidy came upstairs and saw Kate in the bathroom. "Kate? Are you ok?"

Kate took a deep breath and looked down at the pregnancy test. It was a negative. Kate slammed the pregnancy test down and flopped down on the toilet.

"Kate?"

"I really thought I was pregnant," Kate sniffled.

"Did you really want to be pregnant Kate?" Cassidy asked. "I mean you have a 4 month old and Clementine to take care of. Are you really ready for another baby?"

"I just-where is he Cassidy?" she asked. "It's been a little over a month, and he's-he should be here with his daughters and me…not wherever the hell he is."

"He'll be back," Cassidy stated. "He loves you so much Kate. He'll be back."

"What if that guy kills him?" Kate asked.

"Kate when was the last time you've had a period?" Cassidy asked.

"Before Sawyer was gone," she sighed. "That's why I thought I might be pregnant. But the pregnancy test is a negative."

"Look," Cassidy smiled, handing her the pregnancy test. The negative sign in the window, was now a plus sign. Kate let out a soft gasp and put her hands against her stomach. Cassidy gave her a warm smile and they both looked up when they heard Rory crying. Kate went down the stairs and picked her up. Clementine went over to Kate and reached her arms up.

"Pick me up too!" Clementine exclaimed.

"Just a minute," Kate whispered.

"Why?!" Clementine whined. Cassidy came into the room and picked up Clementine, who was now much happier.

**2 More Weeks Later**

Kate had gotten more used to not having Sawyer around, but it didn't make her miss him any less. She just wished she could talk to him for even just a minute. She wanted to tell him she was pregnant, and she wanted to ask him what was going on. It was a Saturday, and she decided to take the kids to the park.

She sat on the park bench watching Clementine play with another little girl. She contemplated bringing a book, but she didn't want to risk losing Clementine yet again. She watched Clementine and every so often looked down at Rory who was sleeping contentedly.

"She's big," Sawyer's voice came from behind her.

"Sawyer!" she exclaimed and turned around. "Lemme go get Clementine."

"No," he shook his head. "Look, I can't stay. I gotta go right now or else he'll see me. I just wanted to see you again."

"Sawyer," she started. "I'm-"

"I gotta go," he said quickly. "Love you, bye."

He ran from her and over to a car. He sped off and Kate was left alone again. She let out a soft sob and sat back down. It had been 2 months since she had seen Sawyer, and he didn't even give her a chance to hug him, or to tell him she was pregnant. She had written him several letters and kept a journal of everything she did so that she could tell Sawyer when he came back.

**2 Months Later**

Kate had her hands against her stomach. There was only a tiny bump there and she ran her hands slowly over it. Rory had started babbling somewhat. She had said mommy and daddy. Kate talked about Sawyer constantly. Mainly just so that Rory and Clementine would both know that he would eventually come back. Kate wasn't even sure if he would, but she knew that as soon as Sawyer could come back he would. At the very least for Clementine and Rory.

"Mommy, are you having a baby again?" Clementine asked.

"Yeah," she whispered.

"Well then daddy better hurry," she said.

"Yeah," Kate nodded. "He better hurry."

The only thing that was keeping Kate from utterly losing her mind was Rory, Clementine and the new baby. She knew if she stayed stressed out that it wouldn't be good for the baby at all. She spent a lot of time with Cassidy and even started hanging out with Jack too.

Jack and Kate were sitting on the couch at Kate's house. Rory was upstairs sleeping, and Cassidy was putting Clementine to bed. They came up with a new bedtime routine since Sawyer was gone. Kate would go up and read her a short bedtime story, hug and kiss her goodnight, and then Cassidy would have a turn. Cassidy had just gone up stairs.

"I miss you Kate," Jack whispered.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "Jack, we've been hanging out more and more."

"I know," he sighed. "I just-oh hell."

He leaned toward her and kissed her lips. She hadn't been kissed or touched in over 4 months. She missed Sawyer badly. She put her hands against her stomach, feeling the bump which was growing.

"Jack-" she whispered.

"I can't believe you!" Cassidy exclaimed. "Clementine forgot Miss Jenny…but I gotta get out of here."

Kate looked down on the floor where Clementine's doll, Miss Jenny was. Cassidy walked out of the house and Kate looked at Jack.

"Jack I think you need to leave," she replied.

"Kate, come on," Jack sighed.

"Go after her," Kate scoffed.

"Kate, I'm sorry ok-"

"What do you mean you're sorry?" she asked. "Jack I'm pregnant, and I'm vulnerable, and I miss Sawyer. And I'm overly emotional right now…so please just leave."

"Kate-"

"Just go," she said.

Jack left the house and Kate carried the doll up the stairs. She wiped the tears off her face and sniffled before she went into Clementine's room. She took a deep breath and went into the room. She put the doll into Clementine's arms and kissed her on the cheek.

"Goodnight sweetie," she whispered.

"Night momma," Clementine stated. "Mommy where did Cassie go?"

"Cass and Jack had to go home," Kate answered.

"But she didn't read to me," she frowned.

"I know," Kate whispered. "I'm sorry. But I can read you another story if you want."

"I'm too tired momma," she stated.

"Alright," Kate responded with a smile. "I'll see you in the morning honey."

* * *

Sawyer went up the stairs at his new house. He hadn't seen Kate or heard from her in so long. He missed her more than anything. He took the jobs that Hibbs offered him, but had to find a new technique to get the women to give him the money. He just wanted to go home to his family.

* * *

The next morning after Kate got Clementine off to school, she carried Rory over to Jack and Cassidy's house, hoping that at the very least Cassidy was there. She knocked on the door and Rory clung to her.

"It's ok baby," Kate whispered. The door opened and Cassidy was standing there, not looking very happy.

"What do you want?" she asked. "I mean Sawyer wasn't enough for you-"

"OK first of all," Kate interrupted. "Of course Sawyer is enough…and it's not like I stole him from you, it had been 4 years since you had seen him when I started seeing him. Second of all Jack is the one who kissed me."

"Whatever," she scoffed. "How could you do that to me? But how could you do that to Sawyer?"

"Cassidy," she sighed. "Jack kissed me…I didn't have anything to do with it. I didn't mean for any of it to happen. It all just happened so quickly, and I pushed him away."

"What is it about you?" Cassidy stated. "I mean I know you're gorgeous, but I just wish that Jack could love me the way that he loves you."

"I am truly sorry Cassidy," she replied. "But please. Don't take it out on Clementine. She was pretty upset when you left last night without saying goodbye."

"Ok," she answered. "I won't-I'll be over later tonight."

"Did Jack apologize?" Kate asked. "I mean are you two gonna stay together?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I refused to talk to him about it last night, so I said we'd talk about it today when he gets home from work."

"Good," Kate said. "I want Jack to be happy. I really did feel guilty for what I did to him. I mean-I never should have done that to him, but I fell in love with Sawyer."

"He tends to have that affect on women," Cassidy smiled.

"I'm in love with him," she whispered and sobbed. "I miss him so much. He always holds me at night. He just makes me feel safe…I want that feeling again."

"He'd be crazy to stay away too long," she responded putting her hand against Kate's shoulder.

**4 and a Half Months Later**

Kate was sitting at home. She was on the couch, trying her best to hold Rory. Her belly was fully pregnant and she couldn't hold Rory very well. She put Rory down next to her and Rory started crying. Kate started crying too.

"Momma up!" Rory sobbed.

"I'm sorry baby," she answered. "I'm trying my best."

Rory tried to climb onto Kate's lap again, but it still didn't work. Rory grunted and then fell onto the floor in frustrated sobs. Kate felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

"Ror," she moaned. "Hold on baby."

Kate walked over to the phone, and moaned again. She dialed Cassidy and moaned again. She wasn't answering the phone. Kate let the phone ring almost 8 times and then hung up. Cassidy had given Kate her cell phone number, for exactly moments like these. Kate dialed Cassidy's cell phone.

"Hello?" Cassidy answered on the first ring.

"Cassidy," Kate said softly. "I think I'm-having contractions."

"Ok," Cassidy said frantically. "I'll be there in 10 minutes."

It was almost 20 minutes later and Cassidy still wasn't there. Kate dialed her cell phone again, and Cassidy didn't answer. 5 more minutes later the phone rang, and Kate saw that it was Cassidy.

"Cass where are you?!" Kate exclaimed.

"I got pulled over," she sighed. "I'm almost there. Hold on."

"Ok," Kate whispered.

Kate was in the delivery room. She hadn't found out if the baby was a boy or a girl, she wanted it to be a surprise. She was laying in the bed and a man dressed in scrubs and with a mask as well. He walked over to her and took her hand.

"You're gonna do just fine," he said. His voice sounded somewhat familiar, only it was muffled from the mask.

"I want my fiancé," she sobbed. "He doesn't even-he doesn't even know. I tried to-I haven't seen him…that stupid jerk!"

"Your fiancé?" he asked.

"No the jerk that took him," she answered. "I'm-I'm just scared."

"Well I'm here," he whispered. She looked up at him and saw his eyes. She would recognize those eyes anywhere.

"James!" she exclaimed.

"I'm here Freckles," he replied and squeezed her hands.

"I tried to tell you," she sobbed. "I tried…but you didn't-I'm so sorry Sawyer. I miss you so much. What are we going to do?"

"Well seems to me like you're about to have a baby," he answered.

"What about Hibbs?" she asked.

"He's gone," he replied. "He's dead, and he'll never hurt us again."

Kate smiled up at him, and pulled him down toward herself. She pulled his mask off and kissed his lips.

"Are you ready?" the nurse asked.

"Yeah," Kate sniffled and nodded. "I'm ready."

"Ok," she smiled. "Push Kate."

Kate squeezed Sawyer's hand and sobbed softly. Sawyer wasn't sure if she was crying because she was happy to see him, or if it was because of the pain she was feeling. He decided that it was probably a little bit of both.

She was laying in her hospital bed, sleeping soundly. Sawyer hadn't been able to take his eyes off of her. He scooted closer to the bed and put his hand in hers. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"You're here," she whispered.

"And I ain't going anywhere ever again Freckles."

**A/N: Reviews are always nice. :)...so please do review!**


	18. Chapter 18

Kate was exhausted, but she didn't want to close her eyes. She was afraid that it was all a dream, even though Sawyer assured her it wasn't.

"I wanna see my girls," Sawyer whispered.

"Cassidy said she'd bring them later," she answered.

"Cass?" he asked.

"We sorta became best friends," she chuckled. "I just needed someone…someone to talk to. Cassidy became kinda that person."

"What about Jack?" he asked.

"Well," she sighed. "He kissed me."

"What?" he questioned.

"He kissed me," she repeated. "About 3 months ago. I haven't really seen much of him since. Sawyer you have to know…we hung out because I was hanging out with Cassidy. One night Cassidy was putting Clementine to bed, and Jack told me he missed me and he kissed me…but I backed away and told him not to. He knew how badly I missed you…how badly I missed being kissed and hugged and held."

"Look who's here!" Cassidy said, coming into the room, and not noticing Sawyer right away. She was holding Rory on her hip, and holding Clementine's hand in her free hand.

"Daddy!" Clementine screamed, and ran toward Sawyer. Clementine jumped into Sawyer's arms and he picked her up. Cassidy stared at him in awe, and Rory started reaching for Kate.

"Momma," Rory sobbed. Kate smiled and Sawyer looked at Rory who was now 1 year and 1 month old. Cassidy handed Rory to Kate. Rory clung to Kate's neck and Kate kissed her on the cheek.

"Can I-" Sawyer started.

"Yeah," Kate said. "Of course Sawyer."

Sawyer picked up Rory from Kate's arms and she started crying.

"Hey," he whispered. "Hey it's daddy."

Rory continued to cry and Kate sighed softly.

"Rory, don't be silly, it's your daddy."

"Mommy!" Rory sobbed. Sawyer handed Rory back to Kate and she snuggled into Kate's arms. Clementine patted Sawyer on the leg and raised her arms up.

"I missed you daddy!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, I missed you too Clem," he answered. "I missed you and your momma so much."

"Mommy did you have a boy or a girl?" Clementine asked.

"I had a boy," Kate smiled.

"I wanted a sister," she stated.

"But you already have a sister," Sawyer argued.

"But boys are mean," she said.

"Well daddy is a boy, and daddy isn't mean," Kate argued.

"What do you want to name him Freckles?" Sawyer smirked and took Kate's hand.

"Luke," she whispered. "Lucas…After you."

"You don't want to do something cheesy like Lucas James, do you?" he rolled his eyes.

"Actually no," she smirked. "Lucas Samuel Ford."

"You've been thinking about baby names for the past 9 months haven't you?"

"Hasn't been much else to do," she shrugged. "I must have read 3 different baby name books…James…I just want to go home and lay in your arms all night."

**2 Nights Later**

Kate was standing in the baby's room, looking at him sleeping. He was already sucking his thumb, and he refused to suck on a pacifier. Kate looked down at him, and ran her hand across the back of his head. Sawyer was trying his best to get Clementine to go to bed, but Kate could hear her protesting. She could also hear Rory crying. She left Luke's room and went into Rory's. She was standing up in her crib, screaming at the top of her lungs. Kate walked over to her and picked her up.

"Shh," Kate whispered.

"Momma," she breathed in deeply.

"Is she alright?" Sawyer asked, coming into the room and putting his hand against Rory's head.

"No!" Rory screamed and clung tighter to Kate.

"Thank God you're here," Kate whispered.

"Yeah," he scoffed. "Clementine's pissed at me, she thinks I'm gonna be gone when she wakes up so she doesn't want to go to sleep, and Rory doesn't know me. The only one who's even remotely happy to see me is Luke."

"I'm happy to see you," she answered. Rory had calmed down and was now sleeping on Kate's shoulder. Kate lifted her carefully into the crib and then sighed deeply. "Maybe Cassidy was right."

"About what?" Sawyer asked, leading her into the bedroom.

"3 kids is a bit to much for me to handle."

"It will take some getting used to, but we can do it Freckles," he said, touching her face. "We can handle it. We handled being away from each other for almost a year…I think we can handle 3 kids. Besides that Clementine's in school half the day."

"Babe, she's in 1st grade now," Kate chuckled. "She's there all day now."

"I missed so much," he shook his head.

"How'd you get away Sawyer?" she questioned.

"I killed him," he answered. "He threatened you. He said that if I-he told me if I didn't get him his money by the end of the year you and our unborn baby would be dead."

"So you knew?" she whispered.

"I found out two days ago…so I killed him, and came to the hospital to watch you give birth," he replied.

"The circle of life," she said. "You cancelled a life, but created one with me."

"Don't hate me," he sighed. "I asked you not to hate me, and you told me you wouldn't-"

"Sawyer I don't," she interrupted. "I just-you tell me that just before you came to watch your son be born, you killed someone. What if the cops find out it was you? I mean Sawyer-I'm scared. I don't want to lose you again."

"You won't," he answered. "He's dead, and that's all that matters. I'm never going to leave you again."

"What if you get caught!"

"I won't," he sighed. "Baby it was self defense. He threatened to hurt you…and our baby. I was defending you. And I got his threat on tape. So if anyone even tries to turn me in…I'll have a defense."

"I just-I'm scared Sawyer…I don't want to lose you," she sniffled.

"Sweetheart, I already told you, I'm right here," he said softly. "Baby I ain't goin' anywhere. I'm here."

She pressed her face against his chest and he ran his hand down her back slowly. She breathed in deeply, trying to stop herself from crying. She fell asleep in his arms. At 2:00 in the morning Sawyer could hear Rory crying. He rolled out of bed and went into Rory's room. When he picked her up, she didn't stop crying.

"Shh," he said softly. "Shh. It's just me darlin'. I gotcha."

He sat down in the rocking chair and she continued to cry, but then settled down slightly. She stopped crying, and put her hands against Sawyer's cheeks, and looked at him. She fell asleep in Sawyer's arms and he put her back in the crib. Sawyer walked out of the room and heard Clementine crying, but her crying was coming from his and Kate's bedroom. He walked into the bedroom and Clementine ran toward him, sobbing. He sighed softly and picked her up. Kate was sitting up in bed. Sawyer set Clementine down and knelt in front of her.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"You were gone!" she exclaimed.

"I'm right here. I ain't goin' nowhere."

"But I came in here and you were gone," she argued. "I was scared daddy."

"You know Clem," Kate started. "I'm kinda scared too…but I know that daddy won't leave us again-"

As Kate spoke Luke started crying. Sawyer started standing back up, but Kate shook her head and walked from the room. Sawyer continued to talk to Clementine and Kate picked up Luke. He didn't stop crying, which frustrated Kate because she just wanted to climb back into bed and cuddle with Sawyer. She heard Sawyer take Clementine back to her room, and then felt him come into the room behind her. He smiled at her and kissed her lips.

"Your lips taste good," he whispered. Kate put the baby down and they went back to their own bedroom. They laid down and started kissing. He ran his fingers through her hair gently.

"Sawyer," she sniffled. "God, I missed you."

"Missed you too," he said. "But I did what I had to do Freckles. I just wanted-he would have killed her Kate."

"I know," she answered. "I just-you missed my entire pregnancy."

"Well that could be a good thing," he stated with a smile.

"Sawyer!" she exclaimed and shoved him. "Come on. How can you even think that?"

"I'm kidding," he shook his head.

"Yeah I know," she sighed. "But I'm serious. The past 9 months have been the worst of my life. And you never even gave me a chance to tell you. I wanted to tell you so maybe you'd come back. I mean-I just wish that you could have been here when the baby kicked the first time, and when I started the contractions, I wanted you to be there, not Cassidy."

"What would you like me to do Kate?" he asked. "Hop in my time machine and good back, and let that asshole just kill Clementine, or worse?"

"No," she replied. "No of course not Sawyer. I know why you did it. I understand everything, but I just wish that you could have-"

"I wish I could have been here too darlin'," he sighed. "But what matters Kate…I'm here now. And I'm never going to leave you like that again. I think I got Rory to trust me somewhat. I know it'll take some time. I wish I hadn't missed all that time with her either. She's-she hates me."

"She doesn't hate you Sawyer," she chuckled. "You're her daddy. She loves you. She just doesn't know you yet. I talk about you all the time. Me and Clementine tell stories about you. We talk about you all the time. She knows the word daddy. She's still little Sawyer. She won't even remember. In a few weeks or maybe even less than that, she'll know that you're her daddy."

"I'm glad that I was here in time," he whispered.

"I'm glad the condom broke," she said.

**The End**

**A/N: Ok, so I wasn't sure how long I was going to go with this story, but that kinda seemed like a good stopping point. I hope you all enjoyed it. I'm probably going to start another one soon, and I'm gonna try to make it last till the end of the hiatus. I really really can't wait for next season. January seems like so far away! Anyway pleasse review!**


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